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ULFP met for about an hour almost every 2nd Friday of the month in
Rm 114 Scripps Admin. Bldg.
- At the start of every
meeting, the status of the SIO Analytical Facility (SAF) instruments was
discussed. Some of the major changes in SAF instrumentation were:
1. An Itrax x-ray microscope/microprobe was set-up at SAF. The
instrument was on loan to SAF by a Swedish manufacturer for testing; the
SAF prepared the instrument room.
2. A new high-resolution
inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) was acquired in
December, 2000, using funds from NSF, SIO Director^Ys Office, and SAF
Depreciation Account. The instrument has been set up and analytical
methods for routine solution chemistry currently are being perfected.
3. A laser ablation system attachment for the new ICP-MS
was funded separately by DOE, and has been hooked-up to the instrument.
The laser ICP-MS method is still being tested and evaluated.
4. Fund to replace the DNA sequencer was funded through NSF MRI
Program.
5. There was a lot of problem with the electron
microprobe, as it is very old and thus, most of the spare parts are no
longer available. The instrument was decommissioned.
6. The
IR-IV eventually also has to be replaced sooner than later (~12 years
old).
7. The XRD has been down for several months.
8. A new EDS system was attached to the SEM and a new software package
was installed in the XRF.
9. W. Fennical^Ys former
student donated an Agilent HPLC mass spectrometer to SAF and was
accepted by ULFP. The mass spectrometer will be delivered and set up by
an Agilent engineer, also courtesy of the donor.
10. A
proposal to purchase a stable isotope mass spectrometer was submitted to
NSF.
11. Proposals to acquire a new environmental SEM and a
new generation NMR are being prepared.
- News on SAF
personnel:
1. Charles Graham had a car accident and will
not be able to work at SAF anymore; he is still on official leave until
January ^Y02.
2. Charles Lim is on an extended medical leave
and may not go back to work at SAF.
3. Rodolfo Figueroa was
hired temporarily until January ^Y02 to help Kevin run SAF.
4. Evelyn York is interested in working temporarily for SAF; she will
apply for the position in late October, 2001.
- In
early 2001, ULFP created a committee to assess the current state and
formulate long term plans of SAF. The committee solicited ideas from
ULFP members and prepared a summary to be presented to Dir. Charles
Kennel. On 9 March 2001, ULFP members and SAF users including students,
met with C. Kennel, W. Hodgkiss, T. Collins, and K. Melville from 11:00
a.m. to 12:20 p.m. Castillo and Walda presented the purpose, history,
and current state of the SAF. A long discussion followed, focusing on
how to modernize and improve the current instrumentation and how to make
the Facility financially secured in the years to come. Dir. Kennel made
the following suggestions to ULFP:
1. shorten the
depreciation time for instruments, so that they can be replaced in a
timely fashion
2. find ways to get additional, much needed
instruments
3. find ways to add technical support to the
Facility, given that we may have more modern, replacement instruments
(#1 above) and additional, more complex instruments (#2 above) and that
financial support is not feasible in the current Scripps budget.
- After consultation with students and scientists using SAF,
Pat Castillo, Kevin Walda, and Ginny Dobias met with Bill Hodgkiss and
Ken Melville in Old Scripps Library on May 5, 2001 to discuss ULFP^Ys
response to Director Kennel's suggestions. The responses are the
following:
1. The depreciation age of SIO Analytical
instruments had been reduced to 10 years starting fiscal year 1998.
2. SAF does not purchase instruments on its own. Since
its formation in the 60's, the number of Facility shared
instrumentation has grown in number and complexity through acquisition
by several groups of SIO faculty and researches using funds cost-shared
by SIO and outside funding agencies. As the number of SIO scientists and
students needing new types of instrumentation grows, it is totally up to
them to organize themselves and find funds to acquire the instruments
they need. The Facility will only assume the responsibility of running
and maintaining instruments that benefit large groups of SIO students
and scientists.
3. SAF has 3 full-time employees. They
teach new users - particularly students - how to run instruments, assist
old users during analysis, maintain instruments, trouble shoot minor
problems, and supervise major repairs. Currently, they are at full
capacity - addition of any major, new class of instrument will require
additional technical support. ULFP requires that anyone at SIO proposing
to acquire such shared instrumentation must include in their proposal to
ULFP a clear and detailed plan on how to augment the current Facility
employees to support the new instrument. For example, a part-time
technician for a new instrument can be hired on a recharge basis or
through support coming from other UCSD departments.
4.
Also discussed at the meeting was the fact that the 2 original SAF
positions were provided by the state: (1) FTE in General Funds (19900)
to Ron LaBorde and (1) FTE in Opportunity Funds (07427A), under the
Organization code of the Analytical Facility, to Roy Fujutai. The
administration of the salary of these 3 positions was transferred from
the extinct SIO Earth Science Department to the present SIO Graduate
Department. In 1984 the SIO department exchanged the FTE in Opportunity
Funds (07427A) to General funds (19900A) with the SIO Department
Organizational code. In 1993 when Ron LaBorde retired from Principal Dev
Eng., the department made open provisions of Sr. Dev. Eng. and Staff
Research Assoc (i.e., 2 positions were created from the allotment of the
original FTE for Ron LaBorde). The salary support for the Facility
employees is a huge fraction of the current Graduate Department budget.
It is extremely important that Analytical Facility users be fully
cognizant of this situation.
- The administration of
SAF was transferred from the SIO Graduate Department to the SIO
Director's Office in late summer, 2001.
- Pat
Castillo stepped down as ULFP chair. M. Kastner and A. Dickson are
currently ULFP co-chairs.
Pat Castillo
1999-2001 ULFP Chair
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