SUNY New Paltz wins National Science Foundation Grant
08/04/2008
Megan Ferguson, John Harrington, Pamela St John, all members of the chemistry faculty, and Maureen Morrow, biology, have been awarded a National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation grant for $253,668. This grant will be used to purchase an atomic force microscope (AFM) that sits on an inverted optical microscope platform. The new instrumentation will be used both for research with undergraduates and for teaching. This will make SUNY New Paltz the only institution in the Mid-Hudson Valley with a research grade AFM.
AFM has many applications across chemistry, biology, physics, materials science, and environmental science. This instrumentation will be used to develop a diverse array of faculty and student research interests, including bacterial biofilms that remediate pollutants, proteins that bind oxygen for use in medical emergencies, surface analysis of biomolecules, and cells grown in modeled microgravity environments. Students will also use the AFM and accompanying inverted optical microscope in Cell Biology, Physical Chemistry, and Instrumental Chemistry labs.
