Award Abstract #0618924
MRI: Acquisition of a Scanning Electron Microscopy/Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy System for Multi-Disciplinary Research and Education

NSF Org:	CBET Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems
Initial Amendment Date:	July 24, 2006
Latest Amendment Date:	July 24, 2006
Award Number:	0618924
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Leon Esterowitz CBET Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems ENG Directorate for Engineering
Start Date:	September 1, 2006
Expires:	August 31, 2009 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$169270
Investigator(s):	Thomas Ho thomas.ho@lamar.edu (Principal Investigator) John Gossage (Co-Principal Investigator) Che-Jen Lin (Co-Principal Investigator) Hsing Wei Chu (Co-Principal Investigator) Rafael Tadmor (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	Lamar University Beaumont 4400 Port Arthur Road Beaumont, TX 77705 713/838-7011
NSF Program(s):	MAJOR RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION
Field Application(s):	0000099 Other Applications NEC
Program Reference Code(s):	OTHR,001E,0000
Program Element Code(s):	1189

ABSTRACT

0618924

Ho

This MRI (Major Research Instrumentation) proposal is for Lamar University to acquire a

SEM/EDX (Scanning Electron Microscopy - Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy) system for

education and research projects carried out at the University, especially in the Colleges of

Engineering and Arts & Sciences. Lamar University is a non-Ph.D. granting institution and is

rapidly developing expertise in environmental as well as energy/material related research. The

goal of this development is to establish its research infrastructure and capabilities, both of which

are critically needed for effectively carrying out advanced research projects in target research

areas, particularly air quality research. Lamar University is surrounded by various chemical

industries having huge potential to emit air pollutants. An urgent need for the University is to

develop capabilities to measure air pollutants. The acquired SEM/EDX will be mainly used for

particulate matter (PM) characterization of samples collected in this area, which provide

necessary data for source apportionment analysis of PM for this area employing the EPA

developed CMAQ (Community Multi-scale Air Quality), CMB (Chemical Material Balance),

PMF (Positive Matrix Factorization) and UNMIX (named for its function, which is to unmix

the concentrations of chemical species) models.

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