Grant: Major Resources Support Program - Infrastructure

New instrumental methods of 'seeing' inevitably lead to increased knowledge and understanding of nature. This was true in the sixteenth century when Galileo's optical telescope revolutionized astronomy. It is still true in the twentieth century. The Scanning Tunneling Microscope, invented in the early 1980's has completely changed our knowledge and understanding of surfaces. X-ray radiography and the electron microscope, to give but two more examples, have each entered common scientific practice and have led to a host of new clinical and industrial analyses. New processes and products immediately flow from the new knowledge acquired.      Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is probably the most flexible and powerful diagnostic imaging technique available to clinical medicine. Its invention in the early 1970's has generated a multi-billion dollar per year industry and permitted unparalleled and detailed diagnosis of a variety of human ailments. Nevertheless, traditional MRI techniques are unable to visualize a large variety of non-liquid materials such concrete, polymers, reservoir rocks and soils, composites, food materials, gases, and microporous solids. These materials are all of technological and scientific importance.      The UNB MRI Centre has invented a family of new MRI methods which permit the ready visualization of a broad range of materials. This Major Facility Access grant application supports the operation of the MRI Centre such that a range of regional and national material science researchers may access our specialized equipment and knowledge.