ACQUISITION OF AN INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA OPTICAL EMISSION SPECTROMETER

0929966

Martinez

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

Funds from this grant will support the acquisition of an inductively coupled plasma optical emission (ICP-OES) spectrometer for research in soil biogeochemistry requiring rapid simultaneous multielement analysis. The ICP-OES would support the research of multiple faculty and their students in Penn State?s Department of Crop and Soil Sciences.

PI and student research will utilize the ICP-OES for trace element analysis of soils, plant tissues and natural waters for a range of studies focused on understanding the transport and fate of key soil nutrients and related biogeochemical processes and pedogenesis. Research uses will include investigations of Critical Zone processes within the NSF-funded Shale Hills CZO. PI research on trace metal fluxes between soils, surface waters and the atmosphere will support informed water resource and agricultural management practices. This award supports two new NSF PIs and an underrepresented female environmental chemist.