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Instrumentation Center, Chemistry Department Awarded NSF Grant |
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Kimyette Finley |
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Apr 2, 2004 |
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| Those who helped secure the National Science Foundation grant were, from left, Drs. Timothy Mueser, Bruce Averill, Cora Lind, Dean Giolando, Jeff Dunn (standing) and Ronald Viola. |
The National Science Foundation recently awarded The University of Toledo a major grant to purchase a new X-ray diffractometer that will aid several UT colleges in research.
Dr. Jeff Dunn, the director of the Instrumentation Center, coordinated the proposal in collaboration with five UT chemistry faculty — Drs. Bruce Averill, Dean Giolando, Cora Lind, Timothy Mueser and Ronald Viola. “This was a team effort between the chemistry department and the Instrumentation Center. The finished project was a composite of several people’s work and is a good example of cooperation getting more for everyone,” Dunn said. “In addition, Dr. Lind, who has expertise in the X-ray field, was able to provide sound advice at the editing stage of the application.”
The NSF awarded the UT group $173,000, and the University will contribute about $73,000 toward the equipment.
“Our existing equipment, which was purchased 14 years ago, is showing its age. Last year, we had to spend thousands on repairs,” Dunn said. “One of my job responsibilities is to apply for research grants to upgrade the existing equipment and look out for new areas that may be of interest to the science community.” The new X-ray equipment will not only provide better general scientific information, but will be able to do measurements which could not be done on the existing equipment. For example, it is possible to study the properties of thin films, such as film thickness, density and roughness, which are important to solar films and photovoltaic materials, and important areas of research at UT. In general, the range of applications will be expanded, Dunn explained.
According to its brochure, the Instrumentation Center provides assistance to UT researchers in the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as other colleges, including Engineering and Pharmacy. In addition, the center provides access and training for graduate students in the use of advanced instruments, and offers a scientific support base for local industries through technical advice and sophisticated problem-solving capabilities. The center specializes in crystallographic studies and is home to the Ohio Crystallography Consortium, which houses an X-ray laboratory that is equipped with two state-of-the-art single crystal instruments suitable for structure determination of small molecules and an R-axis instrument for macromolecular crystallography.
Dunn said the new diffractometer would probably be purchased next spring. “The Instrumentation Center will keep the old equipment because it is still useful for some research, and it would complement the new equipment,” he added.
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