Through their Education Partnership Agreement with the University of Oklahoma through its Oklahoma Aerospace and Defense Innovation Institute, the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex (OC-ALC) has donated a metallograph microscope to the University of Oklahoma for education, research and outreach.
The donation was commemorated with a signing ceremony held at Tinker Air Force Base on Jan. 25, 2023. The microscope will be added to the OU Samuel Roberts Noble Microscopy Laboratory, a central shared-use facility on the OU Norman campus offering access to core imaging and analytical characterization technologies.
Jeff Laughlin, Chief, 76 Maintenance Support Group’s Physical Sciences Laboratory, Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex, said, “The Metallurgical Lab in the OC-ALC recently upgraded their equipment and it's great to see this fully-functional, research-grade microscope being put to good use in research projects and enhancing the educational experience of OU's students.”
Under the guidance of SRNML Director Andrew Elwood Madden, Ph.D., and personnel Tingting Gu, Ph.D., Preston Larson, Ph.D., and Julian Sabisch, Ph.D., the SRNML will utilize the metallograph microscope to provide new research and educational opportunities in materials science and engineering. This includes providing the ability to quickly collect key information on metal samples and assess the readiness of specimens for additional sophisticated analyses with the lab’s extensive electron microscopy tools.
“The advanced light microscopes currently in use at SRNML are not specifically tailored to screening metallography samples,” said Elwood Madden. “A dedicated metallograph will greatly aid in the production of high-quality data at the SRNML by allowing for in-time sample quality observations during the sample preparation process. We are grateful for the partnership with the scientists, engineers, and administrative teams at OC-ALC, in addition to the Oklahoma Aerospace and Defense Innovation Institute and the Office of Corporate Partnerships and Regional Economic Development at OU for working together to enhance our capabilities to provide research support and train the next generation materials workforce.”
SRNML personnel will provide training on the metallograph microscope to students and researchers. The instrument will also be a part of the University of Oklahoma’s K-12 outreach experiences and other research programs that benefit hundreds of Oklahoma students each year.
This donation is part of an ongoing relationship between the University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center dating back to 2020, designed to cultivate aerospace technology development and to improve and enhance education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
To learn more about the Sam Roberts Noble Microscopy Laboratory, visit https://www.ou.edu/microscopy
