Newswise — While it may sound like a bright way to meet someone new, luminescence dating is actually a nearly 50 year old scientific technique used to determine age by analyzing stored electrons released as light.
The technique has proven useful in dating everything from old pottery and other artifacts to ancient volcanic explosions, sea level changes and human evolution.
A premier facility for performing such studies is the University of Illinois at Chicago's Luminescence Dating Research Laboratory or LDRL, one of only about a dozen in North America.
Access to these laboratories is limited for most earth science students. Now, UIC is offering promising graduate students a chance to collaborate with the LDRL.
Students in good academic standing who are currently enrolled in any university around the world are invited to compete for the chance to use the lab to do optical age determinations for up to five of their research samples. One or two students will be selected annually.
Those selected will receive help in choosing the best sediment samples for dating, determining its age and integrating it in a geologic context.
The laboratory analysis is valued at $5,000. Students will receive up to $700 in travel support.
"This award is intended to enrich and propel graduate student research in the geosciences and broaden the utility, judicious application and development of optical dating," said Steven Forman, professor of earth and environmental sciences at UIC and laboratory director.
Luminescence dating is done by using a small sample of mineral grains in which trapped electrons hold time signals that indicate their last exposure to sunlight, prior to burial. When exposed to blue light emitting diodes, the trapped electrons in the grains are released and provide a time signal in the form of light, measured by a device called a photomultiplier tube. Basically, the brighter the light measured, the older the sediment.
Students interested in applying for the award should submit a maximum written proposal of two pages (single spaced) with appropriate references and figures that address:
-the significance, motivation and merit of the proposed research;-how optical ages will significantly enrich their research;-how the proposed research will significantly extend the development and application of optical dating.
Applications should be sent to Forman at [email protected]
The deadline to apply for next year's awards is Dec. 1, 2007.
For more information and complete application requirements, see http://www.uic.edu/depts/geos/
http://www.uic.edu/depts/geos/Chicago_Luminescence_Dating_Research_Award.pdf
The laboratory is funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Park Service, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Geographic Society.
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