Analysis at the Pacific Northwest National Lab

Analysis at the Pacific Northwest National Lab

This winter, Dr. Andrew Ault and 2nd year graduate student Amy Bondy, along with Dr. Kerri Pratt and 1st year graduate student Eric Boone, traveled across the country to visit the Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL). Although we experienced some flying difficulty due to the "Polar Vortex" and a frozen fuel line on our flight out of Detroit, we eventually arrived in Richland, Washington only a day late and after quite a few unexpected tours of airports out west. 

While at the national lab, we used some of the unique instrumentation available there to analyze aerosol samples collected from SOAS. With Alex Lasking as our host, and the help of his postdoc BingBing Wang, we were able to get up and running samples on the computer-controlled SEM (CCSEM) in no time! We were able to capture images, elemental maps (lots of pretty colors!), and get statistical information about the aerosols from many of the SOAS samples. With access to the lab 7 days a week, we were able to collect a ton of data! 

Although we spent almost all our time in lab, we were also able to have some fun in Richland. Cooking dinner and watching movies together in the evenings gave us a way to recharge before heading back to the lab that night. Additionally, the warm weather (up to 55 degrees) and sunshine in the "desert" of Washington was very welcome after the temperatures we left behind in Ann Arbor!