INSTRUMENTS

DELIVERY

I have managed 3 internationally recognized laboratories (WHOI, UCL & UT) over the course of my 38 years in academia. I have overseen the laboratory design, delivery and commissioning of many instruments, including three versions of ThermoScientific Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometers (MAT251, MAT252 & MAT253) coupled to Kiel Carbonate preparation devices (versions II, III & IV). Important to the acceptance of instrumentation has been my development of specialized calibration materials to ensure data integrity within and between laboratories. We shared our ‘heavy’ isotopic standard, AtlantisII, with over 20 laboratories around the world so that the instrument community could produce well-calibrated data sets. I am internationally recognized for my contribution to the improvement of IRMS instruments with the publication of Ostermann and Curry, 2000, and continue to develop mnaterials with subsequent international calibration projects.

REPAIR

I have managed 3 internationally recognized laboratories (WHOI, UCL & UT) over the course of my 38 years in academia. The variety of peripherals I have used during my tenure in the field have allowed me to analyze biogenic carbonate (foraminifera, coral, teeth, bone and fish otoliths) as well as samples from cave deposits, archeological bone and statuary, rocks and water from over 140 international colleagues. Each lab had substantial stable isotope analytical capabilities and challenging budgetary constraints. Together, these laboratories included the following instruments; 1) ThermoScientific (TS) High Temperature Conversion/Elemental Analyzer) with solid (Costec Zero Blanc) and liquid (CTC PAL) autosamplers, 2) TS FlashEA 1200 Elemental Analyzer with a solid autosampler, 3) Costech Elemental Combustion System, 4) TS Gas Bench II Head Space analyzer with PAL autosampler, 5) TS Conflo IV continuous flow device, 6) Perkin-Elmer 4300DV ICP-OES, 7) Kiel II, Kiel III and Kiel IV Carbonate Devices, 8) TS DeltaV, DeltaPlusXP, MAT251, MAT252 & MAT253 isotope ratio mass spectrometers (IRMS). Other laboratory equipment includes my own Automatic Carbonate System, Mettler microbalances, Microdrills (Carpenter & New Wave Research) microscopes (petrographic, stereo, compound and confocal), ovens & muffle furnaces, centrifuges, rock crushers, soil and water analyzers and titration equipment. I have been in charge of the installation, testing and acceptance of three IRMS’s. In addition, I have experience analyzing material on a Cameca IMS 3f Ion Microprobe (WHOI), a JEOL SEM (WHOI & NTU) and expertise using a Geotek Core Splitter (WHOI & NTU), an Avaatech XRF core and rock scanner (NTU) and a Picarro Cavity Ring-down analyzer for Ecosystem work (soil, water, plant material & gas) in the Bali Rice Terraces (NTU).

For 15 years at WHOI, I managed, operated and maintained two IRMS instruments (MAT251, MAT252 & MAT253) coupled to Kiel Carbonate preparation devices Ours was the most productive lab of its type in the world. Over the 15-year span, we analyzed over 161,000 samples, averaging 10,000 analyses each year, including a record 1907 samples analyzed in July 2008. Sixty percent of all samples came from scientists outside of the WHOI community. I solicited samples from colleagues around the globe and helped scientists choose appropriate sample preparation techniques. I also helped many of these scientists interpret their isotopic data. We produced data for 140 different researchers from 55 Institutions and Universities worldwide. Our 2000 Paleoceanography paper detailed how we calibrated standards.