CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY LONG BEACH FOUNDATION
Grant: $295,226 - National Science Foundation - Jul. 30, 2009
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Award Description: A team of archaeologists and geologists at the Institute for Integrated Research in Materials, Environments, and Societies (IIRMES), California State University ? Long Beach (CSULB) will use NSF funding to support research on ancient technology, economic interaction, ancient diets, and past environments. These investigations will be implemented through an outreach program that makes IIRMES instruments and expertise available on a collaborative basis to researchers from the US and abroad. IIRMES instruments used to study the human past include a scanning-electron microscope, three inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometers (ICP-MS), a laser ablation system for solid sample analysis via ICP-MS, a stable-isotope ratio mass spectrometer, and luminescence dating equipment. The current grant will fund purchase of a portable x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer and an elemental analyzer for carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur. The latter instrument will serve as a front-end for the stable-isotope ratio mass spectrometer, so that stable-isotope ratios can be determined in a variety of organic materials. Collaborating researchers participate in the IIRMES Archaeometry Program in two ways. First, submission and acceptance of a short proposal gains eligibility for subsidized analyses on one or more of IIRMES analytical instruments. The NSF subsidy pays for most of the costs of analysis, and the collaborating researchers pay a small per-sample cost for consumable supplies. For researchers who desire or need a more hands-on role in the analytical work, a fully subsidized short-term visiting researcher program is available. Participants in this program spend one to three weeks in Long Beach, during which they work closely with the project PIs in the generation and interpretation of analytical results. In the past, the visiting researcher program has been especially valuable for graduate students working on MA and Ph.D. theses, since they gain practical experience that they can take with them into their future professional careers.
Project Description: Since the July 30 award, we have purchased a portable XRF spectrometer ($42,000) and an elemental analyzer ($29,000), both from US analytical instrument companies. We have also purchased a service contract ($11,000) for another key piece of instrumentation, a ICP-MS, from the North American division of GBC, an Australian company. Needed maintenance, deferred over the past year, has been undertaken on the GBC ICP-MS and on the Finnegan light-isotope ratio mass spectrometer. We have hired two student employees as well. Visiting researchers from University of Arizona, University of California, and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium have been scheduled for two week visits between October 2009 and May 2010. Subsidized LA-ICP-MS analyses are underway on projects involving quartzite, sediments from archaeological contexts, and archaeological ceramics.
Jobs Summary: Two half-time student lab assistant positions are being created by this grant in addition to a fractional time project director position. (Total jobs reported: 1)
Project Status: Less Than 50% Completed
This award's data was last updated on Jul. 30, 2009. Help expand these official descriptions using the wiki below.
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