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 seventy
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.