SUPPORTING THE LONG-TERM INVESTIGATION OF SOUTHERN BLUE RIDGE META-IGNEOUS ROCKS THROUGH CLASSROOM RESEARCH ON COLLECTED SAMPLES, FACILITATED BY REMOTELY OPERABLE EPMA ANALYSES: SCIENTIFIC AND HUMAN RESOURCE OUTCOMES

Much of the data collection critical to the study of metamorphosed igneous rocks in a mountain belt is commonly thought of as being outside the purview of classroom instruction, which severely limits the degree to which classroom laboratory and/or field activities can contribute to pursuing an authentic petrological research objective. Supported by NSF-CCLI Program funding beginning in 2006, I integrated the pursuit of a long-term research goal - characterizing and establishing relationships among metamorphosed mafic igneous rocks in the central Blue Ridge province of the southern Appalachians - into the instructional strategies in my GLY 3311C (Mineralogy-Petrology) undergraduate Geology majors course. This work has been strongly facilitated by in-class, student data collection activities using the Florida Center for Analytical Electron Microscopy (FCAEM) facility's JEOL 5900 "Superprobe" EPMA instrument, which can be routinely and fully operated via remote terminal emulation technologies.

Students learn to operate the EPMA system through formal laboratory exercises and their own hands-on time with the instrument, collecting mineral chemistry data on samples they collected in the field for use course term projects. These data and the analyzed samples and sections are archived for use by future courses and for post-course student research projects that arise out of each GLY 3311C offering. These accumulated results have supported a large number of independent undergraduate research projects and have thus far led to several MS theses completed by past undergraduate researchers, as well as several publications in preparation.

Coming out of this class, students appear to seek out similar experiences, if not in petrology than in other parts of the discipline. Post-course surveys point to a sense of confidence on the part of students regarding pursuit of geoscience investigations, and various special topic "research courses," modeled on this kind of approach, have since been offered at USF at student request on a regular basis. A current NSF-TUES Type 2 project seeks to expand adoption of these kinds of strategies in several other FL institutions and beyond.