The
Engineering
and Mining Experiment Station (EMES)
at South
Dakota Mines has begun
overseeing the operation and maintenance of instrumentation within the Shimadzu Environmental Research
Laboratory (SERL).
The
EMES was founded on the Mines campus in 1903 with a mission to serve mining
industry research. Today the mission has expanded to include a much broader
range of academic and industry needs with a wide array of scientific equipment
that is utilized by industry professionals and university researchers across
the region. The EMES has seen equipment investments by the South Dakota Board
of Regents and the National Science Foundation totaling more than $2.8 million
since 2011. The EMES website lists the range of scientific equipment
available for academic research and industry use including the Shimadzu
instrumentation.
The
SERL was established in 2015 in partnership with Shimadzu Scientific
Instruments by Lisa Kunza. Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Chemistry
Biology and Health Sciences at Mines. The SERL is a multidisciplinary research
facility that contains a suite of state-of-the-art instrumentation with a focus
on environmental applications. SERL instruments enable the chemical
characterization of a wide range of sample types including natural waters,
biological materials, rocks and minerals.
The
EMES and South Dakota Mines research community thank Dr. Kunza for her years of
dedication in creating and maintaining the SERL. User access and maintenance
for SERL instrumentation will now be managed by Scott Beeler, Ph.D., a research
scientist who joined the EMES in June 2019. Beeler brings experience in a wide
range of geochemical analytical methods with a focus in environmental science
and biogeochemistry.
In
the future the newly expanded EMES is expected to play an increasing role in
the expanding high-tech industry in the Black Hills. The effort to build a new
Mineral Industries building on campus to properly house the cutting-edge
equipment in EMES is a critical part of the university’s mission to support
regional economic development.