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

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.