11/8/2006 Lamar Engineering Department -- The Lamar University Engineering department received a $169,270 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The major research instrumentation proposal is for Lamar to acquire a Scanning Electron Microscopy – Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM/EDX) system for education and research projects carried out at the university, especially in the colleges of engineering and arts and sciences.
The focus of this grant is to enhance its research infrastructure and capabilities, both of which are critical for advanced research in target research areas, particularly in air quality research. A variety of chemical and petroleum refineries are near Lamar where air pollutants can be tested and analyzed. The equipment is a high-magnification microscope, that uses a focused scanned electron beam to produce images of the sample, both top-down and, with the necessary sample preparation, cross-sections. It is an instrument used for the imaging and analysis of materials in many specific applications.
“The university has received support from NSF for several major research instruments which have contributed significantly to enhancing our capabilities to perform advanced research as reflected in a substantial increase in our research funding in recent years,” according to T.C. Ho, university professor, director of Gulf Coast Hazardous Substance Research Center housed on Lamar University campus, and holder of the Aldredge Endowed Chair in Engineering. “NSF looks for a university with high ambitions and outstanding research skills as well as university and faculty support before awarding these grants. Such a system has never been available at Lamar and the instrument is intended to be shared with the entire education and research community at the university. All the currently funded and potential future projects from different disciplines at Lamar will benefit from the proposed acquisition.”
The Gulf Coast Hazardous Substance Research Center was created in 1986 under the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act. The Center is a consortium of nine Gulf Coast universities. The mission of the Center is to conduct an integrated research program to improve the quality of the environment in order to reduce risk to human and ecosystem health. The major emphasis is on a program of research, evaluation, testing, development, and demonstration of alternative or innovative technologies for control or remediation of substances having environmental concern.
The proposed duration of this project will be three years; from Sept. 1, 2006, to August 31, 2009.
