MCaL

Materials Characterization Laboratory

Welcome to MCaL, the College of Science-Materials Characterization Laboratory. The facility is managed by Dr. Tom Williams. The laboratory is located in McClure Hall 318 and provides a resource to the College and University of Idaho for characterization of minerals, rocks, metals, and other natural and synthetic materials.

Dr. Tom Williams

MCaL is equipped with a AMRAY 1830 Scanning Electron Microcopy [SEM/EDS], Siemens D5000 powder x-ray diffraction [XRD] and a Polarized Light Microscope (w/digital camera).  These facilities are available to the college and the entire UI campus on user-fee basis.  My primary duties are the operation and management of instruments and their support facilities.  I also train faculty and students to operate instruments, sample preparation techniques, and assist in interpretation of data. 

The AMRAY SEM/EDS provides users with the ability to gather secondary, backscattered electron and cathodoluminescence digital images of a variety of minerals, metals, and biological samples as well as microbeam chemical analysis and compositional x-ray mapping.  The D5000 XRD provides the capability for simple, non-destructive determination of crystal structure information for mineral, soil, metallurgical and materials samples. 

I work with Franklin Bailey and the URO’s Electron Microscopy Laboratory.  I act as a liaison between UI users and the GeoAnalytical Laboratory (Electron Microprobe, WDS/XRF, ICP-MS) at Washington State University. 

Additional Academic Services:

In addition to his administrative and analytical duties, I teach the following courses:

For COS Department of Geological Sciences:

• Geology 111-Physical Geology for Science and Engineering Majors

• Geology 499-Directed Studies [advise undergraduate students on individual projects]

• Geology 409/509-Forensic Geology

For COE Department of Materials Science and Engineering:

• MET/MSE 417-Introduction to Instrumental Analysis

For CALS Department of Food Science and Toxicology:

• FST 527-Transmission Electron Microscopy [team-taught w/F. Bailey]

• FST 541-Scanning Electron Microscopy [team-taught w/ F. Bailey]