One student’s experience at QMA-2019

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GEO777 poster presenters (Ben Bruck, Alex Villa, Emily Mixon, John Fournelle)

by BENJAMIN T BRUCK, University of Wisconsin

This spring, as a final project in John Fournelle’s Electron Microprobe Analysis course, our class performed experiments to compare the accuracy of energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) vs. wavelength dispersive spectroscopy (WDS), and to assess the suitability of two new materials for use as microanalysis standards. As we neared the end of the semester, John suggested that we present our findings at the Quantitative Microanalysis conference in Minneapolis. Minneapolis is only a four-hour drive away, and there was funding for students, so it seemed like a great opportunity.

Even so, I must admit, I was a little hesitant. I had never been to a “real” academic conference before, (only an undergraduate research symposium back in Boise), and the work we’d be presenting felt a little out of my wheelhouse, as it didn’t directly relate to my master’s thesis. Fortunately, John talked me into it, and I’m so glad he did. The conference was a blast!

Our class made a poster for the conference, and Emily Mixon and I tag-teamed a presentation of our results. Speaking to an audience of scholars and industry professionals was a little scary, but everyone was very encouraging, and we got lots of great questions. Ultimately, it was a fantastic opportunity to practice my poster-design and presentation skills.

My favorite part of the conference was probably the Oxford Instruments demo, where they showed off the real-time mapping capabilities of their new EDS detectors. Imagine being able to instantly see how chemical composition varies across your sample, and to navigate to different areas of your sample based on the presence or absence of certain elements. Pretty amazing stuff! It would certainly make identifying sanidine crystals for in-situ analysis much easier.

I was also excited to visit the University of Minnesota, which hosted the conference. Not to knock our own fine campus, but UMN is beautiful. One of the other students from John’s class who joined us wanted to cross the Mississippi river, so we took a walk across the Washington Avenue Bridge one evening for dinner. The University of Minnesota was also where Alfred O. C. Nier did much of his pioneering work on mass spectrometry and geochronology, so I got to nerd out a bit over visiting his old stomping grounds.

I’m so glad I attended QMA. Not only do I feel it was a rich and rewarding experience for me as a grad student, but it was also tremendous fun. As a smaller conference (especially compared to something like GSA or AGU), it felt very low-key, and all the speakers and industry associates were very approachable. I highly recommend going, if you get the chance.

 

First published on the University of Wisconsin’s Geoscience BLOG

QMA-2019 Swag – Microanalysis poetry refrigerator magnets!

Plaque honoring Alfred O. C. Nier, located in Tate Hall at the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis campus.

President’s Address – September 2019

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MAS Members,

For many us of, the beginning of September marks the end of the summer conference and vacation season. We return to work and school with a renewed sense of accomplishment and focus on goals for the coming year. It is a time for taking stock, and planning for the future. For MAS, 2019 has been an excellent year. Our membership numbers, > 500, and financial picture, > $750K in combined invested and liquid assets, are at historically high levels. Beyond just the numbers, the active engagement of society members in person and on-line visibly demonstrates the strength and vibrancy of MAS. Total attendance at the annual Microscopy and Microanalysis Meeting in Portland this summer reached record levels, with over 3,000 total participants, including 11 Distinguished Scholars and an AMAS student representative with financial support from MAS. The annual  Meal with a Mentor connected nearly 100 early career M&M attendees with the senior members of the society. The induction of the Inaugural Class of MAS Felows recognized the long-standing contributions of some of our most dedicated members to the goals of MAS.  QMA 2019, held in June at the University of Minnesota as part of our on-going Topical Conference series, provided the premier international venue for in depth discussion of quantitative microanalysis methods and applications. Six Goldstein Early Career scholars were awarded travel grants to develop their microanalysis technical skills and the Tour Speaker program supported Affiliated Regional Societies through travel subsidies for invited speakers to local meetings. MAS leadership and early career scholars participated in the European Microanalysis  and the Australian Microanalysis meetings. On-line, our newly revamped web page and our growing social media presence provided connection to members worldwide. I’d like to take this opportunity to give a sincere thank you to the Council, the committee chairs and members, the M&M Meeting Co-Chair and Symposia organizers, and Sustaining members for all the volunteer time and resources they contributed to making 2019 such a successful year for MAS.

For 2020, MAS Council is continuing to look at ways to grow our value to the MAS membership through promotion of the advancement of microanalysis methods, instrumentation, and applications. Planning for EBSD 2020 (June 24-26th, 2020, University of Michigan), latest of the bi-annual EBSD TCs is well underway. A permanent home for the MAS archives at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia is in development. The Executive Council will work on establishing a dedicated strategic initiative fund from our current assets, to make funds available for one-time and on-going expansion of MAS activities.

In closing, I invite all members to make the most of their membership in 2020 by nominating your colleagues for a Best Paper Award, sponsoring an early career member through the Goldstein Scholar Program, inviting an MAS expert to speak at your regional society meetings through the Tour Speaker program, submitting an MAS-focused topic to the M&M 2021 call for symposia, and voting in the upcoming society elections in November. Stay connected, and send us your news and events to highlight on the MAS web page and social media platforms!

Sincerely,

Rhonda Stroud

President of the Microanalysis Society, 2018-2020

Funding for Young Scholars – The Goldstein Scholars Program

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Applications are now open for the fall 2019 round of the Joseph Goldstein Scholars sponsored by the MAS and the publisher Springer.

This on-going award is intended to promote career advancement for early career members of the Microanalysis Society, increase interactions of junior and established microanalysts, and to advance the state-of-the-art in microanalysis measurements. Activities eligible for the awards are: (1) travel costs for the Goldstein Scholar to visit a microanalysis facility to make measurements that advance the Goldstein Scholar’s skills and/or the state-of-the-art in microanalysis; (2) Travel costs/fees associated with attendance at a microanalysis school or training course, e.g., Lehigh Microscopy School, Hooke College of Applied Sciences, ASU, etc. Up to five awards of up to $1000 each will be granted each year, with applications reviewed twice yearly in conjunction with the Winter and Summer Council Meetings.  All MAS members who are less than 5 years beyond their terminal degree, and who have not received a Goldstein Scholar award within the prior 5 years, are eligible to apply.  A one-time renewal for current awardees who need to make a return visit for additional measurements will be considered, in cases where this will have a clear impact on the results obtained, e.g., equipment failure on the first visit.

Some testimonials from past winners:

George Burton, Colorado School of Mines

“The Goldstein Scholar award provided me the opportunity to travel abroad to for a month and a half research opportunity. During my time in Germany, I was able to collaborate with world-class researchers with access to cutting-edge electron microscopes not available to me at my home institution. This collaboration provided interactions and mentorship from a leader in electron holography while also enabling the advancement of my thesis project for a direct structure-property correlative study.”

Sean Collins, University of Cambridge, UK

“The unique access to these capabilities and training made possible through the award have given me the opportunity to undertake research on a challenging materials system, and the success around these first experiments now motivates me to launch an expanded research program on organic semiconductors through cutting edge electron microscopy in my future career.”

 

The deadline for applications is November 1, 2019, and the results will be announced on December 15, 2019.

More information can be found at https://the-mas.org/awards/goldstein-scholar/

 

Announcing: EBSD 2020 Topical Conference

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EBSD 2020 is on!  EBSD 2020 will be held June 24-26, 2020 (note the new dates) at the University of Michigan, the site of the extremely successful EBSD 2018 meeting.  EBSD 2020 will start with a day of tutorials and hands on demonstrations followed by 2 days of technical presentations and discussions and vendor demonstrations.  EBSD 2020 will be an opportunity for all practitioners of EBSD—from newcomers to seasoned professionals—to learn about the latest technical advanced and share their experiences.  

Download this tri-fold brochure  with more information

2019 MAS Society Awards

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The Microanalysis Society is proud to announced its award winners for 2019.

MAS Society Awards

Presidential Science Award – Lawrence Allard  (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

Presidential Service Award – Lucille Giannuzzi (EXpressLO LLC)

Peter Duncumb Award for Excellence in Microanalysis – David Seidman (Northwestern University)

Kurt FJ Heinrich Award – Miaofang Chi (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

 

2019 Best Paper Awards for papers presented at M&M 2018

Castaing – Best Student Paper

Ery Hughes (University of Bristol)

Analysis of Redox Changes in Silicate Glasses Using EPMA and Raman Spectroscopy (Paper 2022)

Macres – Best Instrumentation/Software Paper

Lewys Jones (Trinity College Dublin)

The MTF and DQE of Annular Dark Field STEM: Implications for Low-dose Imaging and Compressed Sensing (Paper 478)

Birks – Best Contributed Paper

Bradley De Gregorio (Naval Research Laboratory)

Low Energy STEM-EELS Characterization of Primitive Organic Matter and Silicates in the Meteorite LAP 02342 (Paper 2074)

Cosslett – Best Invited Paper

Jordan Hachtel (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

Novel EELS Experiments in the Newly Opened Monochromatic Regime (Paper 418)

 

M&M Student Scholar Awards

Winning registration and travel support for M&M 2019

Charles Fletcher Oxford University Fast Continuum Models for Atom Probe Simulation and Reconstruction
Brian Zutter University of California, Los Angeles Inducing Electrically-Active Defects in a Gallium Arsenide Nanowire with an Electron Beam
Kevin Schweinar Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung
An Integrated Workflow To Investigate Electrocatalytic Surfaces By Correlative X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy, Scanning Photoemission Electron Microscopy and Atom Probe Tomography
Kousuke Ooe University of Tokyo
Light Element Imaging Technique at Low Dose Condition by Processing Simultaneously Obtained STEM Images Using a Segmented Detector
Berit Goodge Cornell University Harnessing Local Sample Variations to Generate Self-Consistent EELS References for Stoichiometry Quantification
Parivash Moradifar Pennsylvania State University Plasmonic Metalattices: A Correlated Monochromated Electron Energy Loss Study and Theoretical Calculations
Heena Inani University of Vienna Substitutional Si Doping of Graphene and Nanotubes through Ion Irradiation-Induced Vacancies
Yichao Zhang University of Minnesota Direct Imaging of Localized Anisotropic Acoustic-Phonon Dynamics in MoS2
Komal Syed University of California, Irvine ­Analytical STEM/EDS Characterization of Elemental Segregation and Solid Solution Formation in Multiphase Ceramics
Meredith Sharps University of Oregon Nanoscale Analysis of Manganeous Oxide Rock Varnish on the Smithsonian Castle, Washington, DC
Yitian Zeng Stanford University Optimizing Nanostructure Size to Yield High Raman Signal Enhancement by Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy