This award provides one-half the funding needed for the acquisition of a modern electron microprobe microanalysis system that will be installed and operated in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The University is committed to providing the remaining funds required for this purchase. The microanalytical capabilities of the electron microprobe (rapid and automated quantitative chemical analysis of solids with a spatial resolution of a micrometer) are required for the projects of an active group of researchers in geology, geophysics, engineering, and materials science at Wisconsin.