Award Abstract #0215809
MRI/RUI Proposal for Instrumentation of Environmental Research Laboratories

NSF Org:	CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation
Initial Amendment Date:	July 29, 2002
Latest Amendment Date:	July 29, 2002
Award Number:	0215809
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Richard J. Fragaszy CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation ENG Directorate for Engineering
Start Date:	August 1, 2002
Expires:	July 31, 2004 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$366364
Investigator(s):	Roger Ruggles rugglesr@lafayette.edu (Principal Investigator) Mary Roth (Co-Principal Investigator) David Brandes (Co-Principal Investigator) Arthur Kney (Co-Principal Investigator) Javad Tavakoli (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	Lafayette College High Street Easton, PA 18042 610/330-5029
NSF Program(s):	MAJOR RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION
Field Application(s):
Program Reference Code(s):	CVIS, 1057
Program Element Code(s):	1189

ABSTRACT

Through the Major Research Instrumentation Program, 18 instruments will be purchased to provide an instrumentation framework for an integrated environmental research program at Lafayette College. The acquisition of these instruments, when coupled with the existing equipment and the recently initiated renovation of the laboratory space within the department, will produce a laboratory environment in which faculty can conduct high quality research related to the environment and provide advanced undergraduate students the opportunity to explore the underlying scientific and technical principals for a wide range of environmental measurement techniques.

The project provides the advanced instrumentation required to adequately address the research needs of the sophisticated environmental problems facing the world today and provides training opportunities to undergraduates in research related to the environment. Faculty members will use the proposed equipment to expand their current environmental research programs of which most are conducted with undergraduates. In addition, the proposed equipment would benefit up to 21 courses offered by 7 faculty at Lafayette College. Approximately 200 undergraduate students per year are enrolled in these courses and will use the equipment to develop valuable laboratory and research skills. Typically 12 to 18 of these students will carry these skills into Independent Study courses, Thesis projects or sponsored research with faculty during their junior or senior years. A majority of these research students will continue their research in graduate programs.

The intellectual merits of this project are threefold: the enhancement of the research opportunities for both faculty and advanced undergraduate students; the improvement of student learning; and development of new pedagogical methods of laboratory instruction.

The broader impacts of this project include the development of outreach programs directed primarily towards underrepresented groups encouraging participants to explore environmental studies, the dissemination of pedagogical developments through conference presentations and journal articles, the development of multi- and interdisciplinary courses within the environmental programs offered institution wide and the training of undergraduate researchers who will carry their experience on to various industries or graduate programs.

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