Among Hillsdale College’s numerous academic bragging points, the science department boasts two specialized microscopes used in student and faculty research. Both the atomic force microscope and the scanning electron microscope provide highly detailed images for very small samples.
Senior David Galginaitis used the scanning electron microscope, or SEM, to complete his biology research project, which examined the wax morphology of willow tree leaves. The microscope, which uses a beam of electrons to create a detailed image, allowed Galginaitis to examine the tiny, crystalline structures on the leaves to help determine their relationship to other species of trees.
The microscope played a critical role in gathering image data of the structures for his project, as he spent four to five hours each day using the SEM to get clear pictures.
“You can’t really see it using other types of microscopy just because it’s so small. Usually the magnification I was at was either from 1000-3000 times magnification,” he said.
Both students and professors use the SEM, which is kept in the biology department, for research purposes. Galginaitis will help to teach proper techniques to the next student to use the microscope for a project.
The microscope also requires technical upkeep, some of which is performed by off-campus experts.
“There’s a lot of maintenance that goes into it, but we hire in people to come and fix it, take a look at it when things aren’t working like they are supposed to,” he said. “In general, it’s just making sure that the vacuum is sealed inside before actually turning on the microscope.”
Another high-powered microscope, the atomic force microscope, is kept in the physics department. Used for research in multiple disciplines, the AFM provides detailed information about the surface of a sample.
Sophomore Joshua Ramette works with the AFM microscope as a part of an independent study for his physics major. Ramette, who has become somewhat of an expert on the topic, will present his methodology in a talk on April 9.
Rather than providing a photographic image of the sample like a typical optic microscope, the AFM produces extremely accurate data about the exterior of the sample.
“An atomic force microscope provides a topographical map of a sample surface,” Ramette said. “When you insert a sample, it runs a small probe across the surface of the sample, and collects height data, essentially how high the surface of the sample is.”
Based on the data collected, specialized software reads the data and converts it into an image ofthe sample’s exterior. A color gradient on the image represents the distances of various points on the surface, with darker parts indicating a lower height, and lighter parts indicating a higher height.
“We can say ‘Oh, how high is the sample at exactly this point?’ and we can get an actual number for that, whereas in an optical microscope, you can’t just look at something and know it’s five nanometers high right there,” Ramette said.
Samples examined by an AFM range from small electronic chips and nanotubes to bacteria and skin samples. The image data takes only five minutes to produce some of the highest detail of any microscope available.
Once finished with his talk, Ramette will attempt to produce atomic resolution, a painstaking process.
The effort is well worth it for the researchers and the college overall. Dean of Natural Sciences, Christopher Van Orman, noted that state-of-the-art equipment allows both students and faculty to perform important research in the sciences.
“We’re very well equipped. I think that a lot of our equipment that we have is the same type of you’d see at a big Division I research university,” he said. “All of our equipment is at that level. The difference is they have many more of them, because they have a lot more people, but we have the same level of equipment as they do. We’re very fortunate.”
