The UCLA SIMS laboratory is partially supported
by NSF's
Instrumentation and Facilities Program to develop and maintain
a national facility for in situ microscale isotopic
analyses of geologic materials and to provide access to its unique
capabilities to the broader community to address important
problems in earth and planetary science.
Since the inception of facility operations (1996), approximately
200 scientists have undertaken projects in the UCLA SIMS lab. Over
the last 3 years, more than 100 external users representing more
than 50 institutions have used the facility. Most are directly
affiliated with NSF-sponsored research project, with about one
quarter of remaining users sponsored by other funding agencies
(NASA, DoE, NIST, PRF, and NIH). Approximately 3 dozen MS and
(mostly) PhD theses have utilized ion microprobe data as a
significant component of the research; about half of these
students were from institutions other than UCLA.