$550K NSF grant to fund new research initiative

Skidmore College has received a Major Research Instrumentation grant totaling $547,755 from the National Science Foundation.

The grant provides the financial resources necessary to establish the Skidmore Analytical Interdisciplinary Laboratory (SAIL) - an integrated research instrumentation cluster that will enable faculty and students in biology, chemistry, environmental studies, and anthropology to engage in research that links molecular composition to the structure and function of biological, chemical, environmental studies, and anthropological systems.

According to Muriel Poston, dean of the faculty at Skidmore, "SAIL will have a transformative effect institutionally, both for research undertaken by the College's faculty and students and for the training of the next generation of scientists at Skidmore. This award recognizes the growth, strength and excellence of Skidmore's science programs."

Cathy Gibson, assistant professor of environmental studies, is principal investigator on the grant. Co-investigators are Kim Frederick, associate professor of chemistry, David Domozych, professor of biology, Joshua Ness, assistant professor of biology, and Heather Hurst, assistant professor of anthropology. Each professor needs composition information to understand the structure and function of their research systems at the molecular, cellular, ecosystem, and even societal levels. Said Gibson, "All of the researchers are interested in figuring out the building blocks of specific focal systems. For Heather, the focus is how the physical composition of Mayan murals changed over history; for Josh, it is forests; for David, it's cell walls; for Kim, it's microfluidic channels; and for me, it is streams."

The interrelatedness of composition, structure, and function is fundamental to many scientific systems, wrote Gibson in the grant application. "Understanding these relations is a central question in biology, chemistry, and anthropology. "

Equipment to be purchased includes an atomic absorption spectrometer (for studying positively charged ions), a portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometer (for field work in Guatemala and Skidmore's North Woods), an ion chromatograph (to analyze negatively charged ions), infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (molecular analysis), and a CO ₂ and H ₂O gas analyzer (to quantify the metabolic rates of tissues, whole organisms, and communities of organisms).

To foster collaboration among the disciplines, the suite of instruments will be located on the second floor of Dana Hall, adjacent to the homes of the Chemistry and Biology departments and the Environmental Studies Program. Gibson explained, "The hope is for faculty and students from diverse disciplines to appreciate points where their interests overlap and for a research community to evolve as a result." Approximately 400 students a year will utilize the instrumentation as part of faculty-student collaborative research, student thesis projects, or in their coursework.

Gibson added, "What's unique about this project is the way it involves a mix of faculty at different career levels. It shows strong, active research sciences at Skidmore and that faculty members are researchers who are involving students in their work. We're excited about training students on the latest instrumentation technology and the fact that scientists?both faculty and students?will be able to use this equipment to ask cutting edge questions and get the answers."

A Skidmore faculty member for three years, Gibson is a biogeochemist who studies how nutrients cycle through streams and how streams are affected by urbanization. She teaches courses involving watershed assessment (focusing on the Kayderosseras and Saratoga Lake watersheds) and courses in urban and restoration ecology.