With apologies for cross-posting.

Please see below the announcement of grad student travel grants to 
LacCore, the National Lacustrine Core Facility in Minneapolis.  I will 
be at AGU next week if you would like to discuss a project or simply 
find out more about the free and low-cost services offered by LacCore. 
You can find me at the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics (NCED) 
booth, #2015, most of the day Wednesday, as well as late Tuesday and all 
of Friday afternoon.  Come by and pick up your free LacCore Sharpie! 
You can also contact me by email ([log in to unmask]; I'll be checking 
regularly) to set up an appointment outside these times.

-Amy


LacCore announces the second round of a new research award program for 
graduate students working with lake sediment cores. These $1000 grants 
will support student travel to Minneapolis, lodging while at the 
facility, and supplies consumed in initial core description (ICD). Funds 
supplement the free instrument time, staff support, and training offered 
to all LacCore visitors. Three grants are available in 2009.

To apply: send (1) a two-page description of the project, including how 
working at LacCore would forward the project goals, and (2) a letter of 
support from the graduate advisor, to Dr. Sheri Fritz ([log in to unmask]), 
by noon Central Standard Time on Friday, February 13, 2009. Applications 
will be evaluated by Dr. Fritz and other members of the LacCore External 
Advisory Group (EAG); award notifications will be made in late April.

Funds are intended to support student travel, core shipping, and initial 
core description (for a discussion of ICD, please see the Core Facility 
ICD page at http://lrc.geo.umn.edu/corefac-icd.htm), and may not be used 
to pay for LacCore-related analytical services such as coulometry, 
stable isotope analysis, scanning XRF, etc.

Students may bring new or previously-collected cores to the Facility. 
Visits will ideally occur between spring and fall 2009 and involve a 
one-week stay during which the student will work closely with LacCore 
staff and be trained in ICD and other techniques, using the student's cores.

Applicants are encouraged to contact LacCore staff (Kristina Brady 
[[log in to unmask]], Amy Myrbo [[log in to unmask]], Anders Noren 
[[log in to unmask]]; all at 612-626-7889) to discuss the scope and aims 
of their proposed work while preparing their applications. LacCore staff 
are not involved in the collection of proposals nor in the selection of 
successful applicants.

The primary criteria for selection are the quality of the proposed 
science and the degree to which the project would take advantage of, and 
benefit from, use of the LacCore ICD facilities. Candidates in the 
earlier stages of their grad careers, or lacking ICD instrumentation and 
expertise at their home institutions, will be given special 
consideration. Students from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and 
Duluth campuses are not eligible.

Funds for the LacCore Visiting Grad Student Program are provided by the 
National Science Foundation - Instrumentation and Facilities Program as 
part of LacCore's operational funding.

This information is also available at:  http://lrc.geo.umn.edu/vgsp/

-- 


Amy Myrbo, Ph.D.
LacCore Facility Manager
Limnological Research Center
Department of Geology and Geophysics
University of Minnesota
500 Pillsbury Dr SE
Minneapolis MN 55455
612-626-7889
fax 612-626-7750
[log in to unmask]
http://lrc.geo.umn.edu
http://www.myrbo.com