SSW’s core academic missions are to kickstart the love of science in young aspiring scientists, and to help build the foundations for life-long scientific careers. We strive to properly educate and train students on the use of advanced scientific instrumentation and analytical techniques, and in order to meet these goals, SSW routinely takes on summer, co-op and work-study students. By being immersed in the daily excitement of the lab, these students can have a better appreciation of scientific work, and hopefully, launch into exciting careers using these unique experiences.
Recently, SSW had to say “so long” to three amazing students who have been working with us over the past year. These students have done wonderful work in the laboratory, and they are well on their way to becoming successful scientists.
Over the past twelve months, Trevor Matterson has worked as a Laboratory Assistant supporting our mineral processing team. He has been working under the supervision of Dr. Stamen Dimov and Dr. Carolyn Hill-Svehla, preparing samples for gold deportment analysis by Raman Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Dynamic Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (D-SIMS). Throughout this process, Trevor gained experience in various lab techniques, including super-panning, sample polishing, and optical microscopy. Trevor also developed and maintained an online inventory for D-SIMS parts. His help has been invaluable, considering this has been one of the busiest years for gold deportment in recent memory!
In addition to Trevor, over the past four months, Sage Buchanan and Lauren Grey worked as Summer Research Fellows. During this time, they worked with Dr. Mark Biesinger and Dr. Jeff Henderson on the chemical state determination of zinc and cadmium compounds through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis of standard samples. This research will be valuable to the greater XPS community, with applications in the corrosion, automotive, aerospace, and energy industries. In addition, Sage and Lauren have gained experience in a wide range of surface-sensitive and electrochemical techniques. It was a pleasure to work with Sage and Lauren and the four months went by quickly.
All of our students have been a huge help to our staff, and we sincerely hope that we have imparted a love of science in them! We look forward to seeing where their careers lead! If you would like to inquire about exciting academic opportunities with SSW, then please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Surface Science Western 
