In July 2009 I was awarded an NSF Intrumentation & Facilities award for a fission track microscope and automated stage set-up (EAR #0929922).

The system (delivered in September 2009) comprises an Olympus BX61 (electronic focus) research microscope and Kinetek (Ludl) automated stage system with FTStage tablet and software supplied by Trevor Dumitru (Stanford University).

With this facility, the University of Arizona Department of Geosciences now has the in-house capability to carry out fission track analysis, (U-Th)/He dating (Peter Reiners) and U-Pb dating (George Gehrels) - so-called "Triple-Dating" - on single detrital (and other) grains of the minerals zircon and apatite.