Thrifty Scientists Explore Alternatives To Buying New Tools

In 1984, the department of earth sciences at St. Cloud State University, Minn., was lacking an electron microprobe. At the time, the instrument, used to analyze the com- position of rock samples, was selling for about $200,000. Gary Anderson, a professor in the department, knew that there was no way to justify the expense. "A small department like ours, in a public school such as St. Cloud State, can't afford [to spend that much money] on a single piece of equipment," he says. By being at the

Written byBruce Silver

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By being at the right place at the right time, however, Anderson managed to acquire--practically free of charge--a 20-year-old electron microprobe, courtesy of the United States Department of Energy (DOE). While on a trip to a DOE facility in Ames, Iowa, Anderson saw that the instrument was on a list of devices available through DOE's Used Energy-Related Laboratory Equipment Grant Program for Institutions of Higher Learning (ERLE). This program, begun in 1962, makes several hundred used instruments available to the educational community per month to further energy-related research and coursework. DOE donates the equipment to successful applicants, who pay only a shipping and handling charge.

"We absolutely wouldn't have the microprobe [without the ERLE program]," says Anderson. "There's no doubt about it."

With the accelerating cost of technology in the microprocessor age causing the price of laboratory equipment to skyrocket, more and more scientists like Anderson are exploring economical alternatives ...

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