EPMA- Lab Mission and Policies

Mission of the EPMA Laboratory

The EPMA laboratory hosted in the Department of Earth Science is devoted to the Mission Statement of Rice University. It is committed to support research at Rice University, as well as to train graduate and post-graduate students on the EPMA analytical skills (hand-on the instrument) as part of their learning process. The EPMA laboratory is also supportive for research at other academic and governmental institutions, as well to industry and commercial users.

Policies for Academic users – Acknowledgements

Our policy for Academic users concerns with the support needed for a continued high-standard activity of our laboratory. This is why we implement a policy regarding acknowledgement in publications and presentations, as well as notifications in technical/research reports, thesis etc.

All users of the Electron Microprobe Laboratory should acknowledge the EPMA facility in their publications and presentations. In addition, when a paper is accepted for publication, we request that all users provide us with a copy of the manuscript, to be keep for our records.

When analyses conducted at the EPMA lab at Rice University are published in journals, book chapters, conference proceedings, etc. we request the manuscript includes an acknowledgement along the following lines:

The use of the EPMA facility at the Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, TX is kindly acknowledged.

In talks, an acknowledgement along the following lines is requested:

Analyses carried out at the EPMA Laboratory, Department of Earth Science, Rice University.

Users are also asked to consider including assistance provided by laboratory personnel in their acknowledgements.

Cancellation, Late, and No-Show Policies

It is the responsibility of every academic user to keep his/her booked sessions. If a user needs to cancel a booked session, it should be done at least one full day in advance. In cases of extraordinary circumstances which do not allow one-day advance notice, one must still cancel the session as soon as possible. If a user fails to cancel a booked session and is a no-show, that user will still be charged for the instrument time for which he or she signed up. After two no-shows in a row or three no-shows in six consecutive months, the user will not be allowed to use our EPMA facility. Users who sign up for large blocks of time (e.g., all Saturday) but use only a small fraction of that time (e.g., 2 hours) will be charged for the full scheduled time.

Miscellaneous Policies

It is the responsibility of the individual requesting analyses to seek an estimate before any work is done, track the costs incurred, and coordinate budgetary details between the principal investigator and lab personnel. Upon request, lab personnel will provide estimates, discuss the costs involved, issue a quotation if necessary and assist the user in having an understanding of the required EPMA time for certain project requirements, the cost involved, or to assist in shaping an EPMA time requirement for staying within any provided budgetary guidelines. If no budgetary guidelines are provided in advance, the lab personnel will use their best judgement to supply researchers with the best balance of data quality and cost.

Researchers must provide billing information anytime between the booking of the EPMA and the start of the EPMA session.

The first time users will benefit from a morning free training session. This training is needed if the user desires to work unassisted on our instrument. Any user who does not feel comfortable in working unassisted and any user with a lapse of three months or longer in our instrument use must book an assisted daytime session in order to reinforce their instrument operation skills. The EPMA lab manager reserves the right to not allow any individual to operate the electron microprobe unsupervised.

Costs incurred from instrument damage due to recklessness of the user may be charged to the user’s account.