PCIGR celebrated its most recent expansion—a 2,200 square-foot clean lab space called nUBC—with a grand opening event on December 16, 2013. nUBC is located in the EOS Main Building of the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, on the UBC Point Grey campus.
The event featured invited speakers, tours of PCIGR's labs, and a grand opening ceremony. The research community and students were invited to participate to see how the new infrastructure will benefit research and development in geological sciences, mining, oceanography, and a variety of other research and engineering fields.
The event consisted of the following presentations and activities:
Morning Program - Advances in Mass Spectrometry
10:00-10:30am (ESB 5104)
History and Evolution of Nu Instruments
Alan McCall, Managing Director, Nu Instruments, UK
10:30-11:00am (ESB 5104)
New Analytical Developments
Roy Cohen, Head of Operations, Nu Instruments, USA
Andy Burrows, Technical Director, Nu Instruments, UK
11:00am (nUBC facility, EOS Main)
Lab tours
Groups of maximum 8 participants, alternating over the break
Afternoon Program - Applications of Geochemistry
2:00-3:00pm (ESB 5104-5016)
How Modern Mass Spectrometry is Driving Cosmochemical Discoveries
Audrey Bouvier, University of Western Ontario, CANADA
3:00-4:00pm (ESB 5104-5016)
Unraveling Earth Formation
Richard Carlson, Carnegie Institution of Washington, USA
4:00-5:00pm (ESB 5104-5016)
Reconstructing Past Rainfall Using U Isotopes in Soils, Lakes and Cave Formations
Kate Maher, Stanford University, USA
5:00-6:00pm (ESB 5104-5016)
Isotopes of Disease
Francis Albarède, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, FRANCE
Evening Reception
6:00-8:00pm (Museum Lobby, EOS Main)
Opening Ceremony
Hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will be served
Each of the talks was well attended, with up to 100 people participating throughout the day. The event concluded with a reception in the Pacific Museum of the Earth, with remarks by Greg Dipple, Department Head, and Dominique Weis, Director of PCIGR.
