Ngee Sing Chong

Ngee.Chong@mtsu.edu

CBAS Dean, Dr. Bud Fischer

College of Basic and Applied Sciences

Discipline specific equipment

ROTC Annex/MIMIC

N/A

N/A

The Interdisciplinary Microanalysis & Imaging Center (MIMIC) is a core facility for microscopy instrumentation. MIMIC supports 5 undergraduate/graduate courses & various majors for BS/MS/PhD degrees in CBAS. MIMIC provides students services & training for transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis(EDX)and focused ion beam (FIB) instrumentation. Total student enrollment in the 5 courses (SEM, TEM, EDX, & microscopy research)is 120-135 per year. MIMIC has provided equipment and instruction time for 43 students in other university courses/workshops/summer training and NSF-funded student research programs. Use of MIMIC facilities contributed to 20 oral/poster presentations, 4 publications, and 3 theses in 2011-12. The needs for new equipment/accessories can be summarized as follows:1)the lack of X-ray microanalysis system for our Hitachi TEM has made it impossible for students to determine the elemental composition of the biological/materials specimens;2)the 7-year old X-ray detector for the Hitachi S-3400 SEM will no longer be supported by the manufacturer;3)the particle-tracking microscopy will allow students to analyze nanoparticles in liquids, which is not possible with the existing SEM/TEM;4)polisher/grinder are necessary for preparation of samples for electron backscattered diffraction analysis. It is important that MIMIC has modern/suitable instrumentation in the new Science Building to achieve the academic goals of the CBAS, Forensic Institute for Research & Education, and Anthropology Department.