Major research instrumentation grant for state-of-the-art scanning electron microscope to significantly impact natural sciences at VWC
September 23, 2011
Virginia Wesleyan College has been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation in the amount of $242,502 for the acquisition of a variable-pressure scanning electron microscope (SEM) with microanalysis system. The microscope will be housed in Blocker Hall, the College’s natural sciences facility, which recently underwent a $2.8 renovation.
“This state-of-the-art instrument, the finest of its kind in southeastern Virginia, will dramatically enhance undergraduate research opportunities and faculty scholarship on our campus,” says Professor of Biology Dr. Vic Townsend, the principal investigator for the grant proposal for the microscope. “The SEM will be equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, enabling us to determine specimen composition. Although we anticipate most of the users will be science majors, the microscope will also be available to students and faculty with interests in art history, anthropology, forensics and photography.”
Townsend intends to use the microscope to examine the reproductive anatomy of tropical species of “harvestmen” (also known as daddy longlegs), an area of study in which he has become a leading authority. In addition, the microscope will be used by at least three other members of the faculty in the natural sciences.
“This state-of-the-art instrument, the finest of its kind in southeastern Virginia, will dramatically enhance undergraduate research opportunities and faculty scholarship on our campus.” — Professor of Biology Dr. Vic Townsend
Deirdre Gonsalves-Jackson, associate professor of biology, will be using the instrument to study the morphology of the radulae of marine gastropods from the Chesapeake Bay. Professor of Earth science Dr. Chris Haley intends to focus his research with the microscope on sandstone diagenesis, while Dr. Elizabeth Malcolm, associate professor of oceanic and atmospheric studies, is planning to investigate the composition of particulates from aerosols. Haley and Gonsalves-Jackson served as co-investigators, assisting Townsend with the proposal for the SEM.
In addition to supporting specific research projects for students and faculty, the microscope will further integrate research with education in the natural sciences by enabling the College to offer an upper level course in scanning electron microscopy beginning in spring 2012. This class will be designed to introduce students to the instrument prior to conducting their junior or senior research projects. In an effort to attract students into natural science disciplines at VWC, the SEM will eventually be used in the summer (along with the Ocean Explorer, the College’s jointly owned research vessel) to provide initial exposure for local high school students to scientific research.