NSF Award
2320473
This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award will provide funds to acquire an X-ray microscope to support cutting-edge research at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York. With over 170 working scientists, the AMNH is a globally-leading research institution for the study of organismal structure, function, systematics, and evolution, as well as anthropology and the Earth and planetary sciences. The X-ray microscope is a next-generation imaging device that allows visualization of the internal structure of objects, resolving features as small as one-thousandth of a millimeter. This instrument will allow high resolution 3D visualization of AMNH’s world-class natural history collections, which includes 34 million scientific objects, primarily biological, fossil, and geological specimens. The resulting research will yield significant advancements across a wide range of topics, including the anatomy, evolution, growth, development, and function of organisms, as well as climate change and the evolution of planetary systems, across the fields of paleontology, zoology, archaeology, ethnology, oceanography, and mineralogy. The new instrument will contribute to training of the next generation of scientists via the Richard Gilder Graduate School and affiliated programs (e.g., City University of New York, New York University, Columbia University). It will increase accessibility of AMNH specimens by allowing online sharing of digital data. It will also contribute to exhibition and public educational programs by generating superb 3D visualizations of important specimens, including minute details of tiny insects and fossil specimens that cannot be extracted from the rocks they were preserved in.<br/><br/>The 630 Versa X-ray microscope (XRM) is a micro- to nano-computed tomography (CT) system with capabilities that are critical to the next-generation of specimen-based research, including sub-micron resolution (true spatial resolution down to 0.5 µm), high X-ray flux allowing faster throughput and increased scan quality, and propagation phase-contrast to enhance edge-detection and the distinctions between structures of similar densities for low-absorbing materials. This instrument will extend the frontiers of specimen-based research by significantly increasing achievable scan resolution and the quality of scans that can be obtained at high resolutions within a wide range of intact specimen sizes. The instrument will provide an important resource for researchers at the AMNH as well as affiliated researchers across other institutions and consortia in the New York City region. It will stimulate the next generation of discoveries by expanding the frontiers of our research and training across a wide user base. It will directly contribute to research programs across a wide range of topics including the origins and early evolution of mammalian anatomy and physiology, diversification of arthropods, skeletal function of extinct hominins, effects of ocean acidification on marine organisms, processes of solar system formation, the tracheal system of insects, microstructural anatomy of animal tissues, the functional morphology of small-bodied vertebrates including bats and fishes, and many others.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
