Acquisition of an Image Analysis System for Computer-aided Instruction

This award to Florida International University's Department of Geology is made in response to a proposal submitted to the National Science Foundation's Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement Program. The award will provide one-half of the funds needed to acquire an image analysis system for the purpose of enhancing education and research in the Department's undergraduate training programs. The University is committed to providing fifty percent matching funds for this acquisition. The equipment will be used in the Department's microscopy laboratory exercises in courses in mineralogy, petrology and paleontology. The image analysis system will also be used in the Department's undergraduate research program to enhance modal analysis of rocks, analysis of deformation fabrics in metamorphosed rocks, and morphological analysis of evolution in microfossils.