Scanning Electron Microscopy at the University of Dayton

Drs. Shirley Wright from Biology, Howard Knachel from Chemistry and Michael Sandy from Geology got together to write a grant to purchase a scanning electron microscope (SEM) for use in undergraduate teaching and research. The grant was submitted and six months later, the Division of Undergraduate Education of the National Science Foundation funded the grant (NSF grant #9750667) with matching funds from the University of Dayton. The SEM was purchased from JEOL USA, Inc. and is a special model known as the JSM-5800LV. We'll discuss the special features a little later. The SEM is housed in the Department of Biology at the University of Dayton. It has been used to image many samples including insects, pollen, leaves, cells, tissues, salts, fossils, dinosaur teeth, coatings, carbon nanotubes, and many others.