On January 31, 2008, Wesleyan received the good news that West Virginia EPSCOR approved funding for the Physics and Engineering Department's instrumentation grant proposal.

West Virgnia EPSCOR is providing $20,000 for the Department of Physics and Engineering to purchase a Pulsed Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometer. NMR has applications in fields that our students pursue professionally, such as analyzing natural gas boreholes, medical MRI, and non-destructive testing of engineering structures.

Students will use the pulsed NMR to study such things as nuclear precession, quantum mechanics, paramagnetism, and radio-frequency magnetic fields.

The instrumentation will be used by students in summer research projects. Students will perform research on the motion of atoms in liquids, and slow chemical reactions such as the curing of epoxy and the hardening of concrete.

Last summer, 5 students were paid to work in Wesleyan’s Physics Department on NSF projects involving cosmic rays, laser spectrometry, superconductivity, magnetic resonance, and low-frequency sound.

Dr. Popson traveled to Charleston for Governor Manchin to personally present his check.