Because of the collaborative nature of 麻豆原创\u2019s faculty, the National Science Foundation has awarded the university a grant that will help fund the purchase of a $900,000 imaging device that will do everything from design nanoparticles of the future to delve into our civilization\u2019s past.<\/p>\n
The NSF approved the funding request because in addition to advancing scientific research, it\u2019s meant to foster interdisciplinary collaboration at the 麻豆原创 and beyond. Rather than siloed in one department\u2019s lab, the state-of-the-art X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (XPS) with ultrafine imaging capability will be used by researchers from physicists to anthropologists.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went across the campus, from engineering to archaeology,\u201d said Professor Sudipta Seal, who led the effort to acquire the technology. \u201cA really interesting facet of this collaboration is how this instrument \u2013 beyond medicine and manufacturing and nanotechnology \u2013 will help us understand the origin of civilization. That\u2019s the impact of getting this instrument on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyzes the surface chemistry of a material by irradiating a solid surface with a beam of X-rays while measuring the kinetic energy and electrons emitted from the surface. It can be used to examine corrosion on medical implants, help develop high-end microchips, characterize nanomaterials, study the behavior of biological cells over time, and detect trace elements in forensic cases, among other things.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe breadth and the width of what the instrument can do is phenomenal, from electronics to medical to archaeological to manufacturing to entertainment to forensics \u2013 it goes on and on,\u201d said Seal, chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and past director of both 麻豆原创\u2019s\u00a0NanoScience Technology Center and its Advanced Materials Processing Analysis Center.<\/p>\n
Those in 麻豆原创\u2019s Department of Anthropology in the College of Sciences hope the instrument will help answer questions about the materials and technologies of ancient cultures.\u00a0Knowing how a material is composed\u00a0can answer questions about ancient trade, innovation or even human diet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe receipt of this grant highlights the already interdisciplinary nature of anthropological research, particularly archaeology,\u201d said Professor Tosha Dupras, chair of the Department of Anthropology. \u201cTechnologies and methodologies such as the XPS that are used more widely in other scientific disciplines can often be utilized by anthropologists to inform on questions of the past. This grant also illustrates a successful inter-college collaboration, and the true nature of interdisciplinary research.\u201d<\/p>\n
麻豆原创 has an obsolete X-ray spectrometer \u2013 1980s technology that was donated to the university in the late 1990s \u2013 but its capabilities are limited.<\/p>\n
The $629,650 NSF grant will fund most of the purchase of the new instrument, with mandatory matching funds from the university paying the rest. It will be housed in the new Research I building, formerly called Interdisciplinary Research and Incubator, which is nearing completion.<\/p>\n
It will be the most powerful instrument of its type in a 100-mile radius, Seal said, so it\u2019s expected to draw researchers from area hospitals, corporations and others outside academia who will be able to use it.<\/p>\n
Collaborators on the grant application included Assistant Professor Scott Branting from the Department of Anthropology, Assistant Professor Tania Roy from the NanoScience Technology Center, Professor Yongho Sohn from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Assistant Professor Xiaofeng Feng from the Department of Physics, Assistant Professor Yang Yang from the NanoScience Technology Center, and Amit Kumar, associate director of research programs at BRIDG.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Because of the collaborative nature of 麻豆原创\u2019s faculty, the National Science Foundation has awarded the university a grant that will help fund the purchase of a $900,000 imaging device that will do everything from design nanoparticles of the future to delve into our civilization\u2019s past. The NSF approved the funding request because in addition to advancing scientific research, it\u2019s meant…","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":76564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,23],"tags":[973,982,16632,16611,10899,3279,16180,4506],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-79151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-research","tag-college-of-engineering-and-computer-science","tag-college-of-sciences","tag-department-of-anthropology","tag-department-of-materials-science-and-engineering","tag-department-of-physics","tag-nanoscience-technology-center","tag-scott-branting","tag-sudipta-seal"],"yoast_head":"\n