W&L Receives $450,000 Grant from the National Science Foundation

By Brian Laubscher
October 3, 2025

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that its Division of Earth Sciences has awarded Washington and Lee University a grant totaling $450,636 to purchase a confocal Raman imaging microscope (CRIM) to perform geoscientific investigations.

Nicholas Barber, assistant professor of earth and environmental geoscience, was the principal investigator for the grant submission, which was originally submitted and rejected in 2024 before making adjustments that led to a successful application in 2025. The equipment, which is not manufactured in the United States and was purchased in the United Kingdom, is expected to be installed by Christmas and will raise the profile of the university's scientific research.

"This was my first major grant acquisition, and I couldn't be more excited about it," said Barber. "Successfully securing this funding was a team effort from top to bottom. Having this state-of-the-art facility housed in the multi-user IQ Center is an unparalleled technical upgrade, one I am already leveraging to build national and international research partnerships. The Raman lab makes us uniquely situated amongst our peer institutions to conduct cutting edge earth and environmental research with our students."

The CRIM device will also be utilized by Jeff Rahl, professor of earth and environmental geoscience, and Margaret Ann Hinkle, associate professor of earth and environmental geoscience, who are also named as co-principal investigators for the grant. The instrument will enhance a wide range of research projects, including investigations into the composition and fate of magmas by characterizing melt inclusions, studies of the composition of minerals relevant to pressing environmental concerns and quantifying metamorphic temperatures in deformed terrains.

"Securing this National Science Foundation grant is an extraordinary achievement for professors Barber, Rahl and Hinkle and a testament to the strength of W&L's science programs," said Paul Youngman, interim dean of the college and professor of German. "The CRIM is a state-of-the-art instrument that will transform the way our faculty and students conduct research, opening new possibilities for collaboration across disciplines and giving our students hands-on access to technology typically found only at major research universities. At a time when federal funding is increasingly competitive, this award underscores the national recognition of the innovative and impactful work happening in the College."

Raman spectroscopy is an in-situ, non-destructive technique that allows for rapid, high spatial resolution acquisition of structural information on materials such as minerals, glasses and dissolved liquids and gases. W&L's new CRIM will be capable of both high spatial and spectral resolution single point analyses as well as sample-wide hyperspectral maps in 2D and 3D.

"Raman spectroscopy takes advantage of the way different materials interact with light, causing a unique scattering phenomenon we can use as a 'fingerprint' for the presence of different compounds," said Barber. "I will primarily use this instrument to answer questions about the causes of volcanic eruptions as well as the mechanisms leading to the formation of critical mineral deposits. With the CRIM, I will be able to reconstruct pressure, temperature and structural features of magmas long before they develop into volcanoes or metal deposits. We will be able to support innovative student-led research projects, both here and with our collaborators at the Virginia Military Institute, making Lexington a regional powerhouse of microanalytical capabilities."

Barber is in his third year at W&L after serving as a Wares Postdoctoral Research Fellow at McGill University in Canada. He holds a bachelor's degree in geoscience from Drexel University and earned a Ph.D. in earth sciences from the University of Cambridge (U.K.). Rahl has been a member of the W&L faculty since 2006 and recently completed multi-year service as chair of the Earth and Environmental Geoscience Department. He has a bachelor's degree in geology from the University of Dayton and holds a master's degree and Ph.D. in geology from Yale University. Hinkle has been with the university since 2017 and holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Sewanee: The University of the South, in addition to a master's degree and Ph.D. in earth and planetary sciences from Washington University in St. Louis.

The NSF is an independent federal agency that supports science and engineering in all 50 states and U.S. territories. It was established by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science, advance national health, prosperity and welfare and to secure the national defense. The foundation fulfills its mission primarily through grant offerings. These investments account for roughly 25% of federal support to America's colleges and universities for basic research.

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