Facilities

Environmental Institute of Houston (EIH)

Student researchers working with EIH have access to the additional resources listed below
5 research vessels including airboats and electroshocking boats
3 ATVs
Acoustic and Radiotelemetry (VEMCO and ATS)
Camera Traps
Differential GPS and Total Stations and UAV equipped photography
Fisheries and aquatic field sampling – experimental gill nets, trawls, electroshocking, seines, snorkeling, oyster dredges
Automated ambient water quality monitoring profiling and hydrology ambient profiling instrumentation (YSI, Sontek, Hydrolab, Turner) and methodology.
Plankton nets (towed bongo, single, neuston, and open-closing, micro CTD metered)
Benthic dredges and trawls
Microanalytical balance/top loading balance
IR flourometers and spectrometers for chlorophyll measurements
Digital camera equipped compound and dissecting microscopes
HACH DR series spectrophotometers for individual analytes

1200 Series liquid chromatography-6120 Quadrupole MS system with a degasser, binary pump, column thermostat, UV-DAD, and fluorescence detector (LC/MS, Agilent) à For the analysis of semi-volatile compounds (SVOCs) in organic solvents
Optima 7000 DV inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES, PerkinElmer) à For the analysis of metals and metalloids in water, soil and sediment
8350 Professional ion chromatography (IC) with conductivity and 844 UV/VIS detector (Metrohm) à For the analysis of anionic compounds in water
Mercury analyzer, Direct DMA 80-ATS (Milestone) à For the analysis of mercury in water, soil, sediment, etc.
7890A gas chromatography - 5975C VL with a triple-axis mass detector and micro-ECD detector (GC/MS-uECD) (Agilent) à For the analysis of volatile and semi-volatile organic compound (VOCs and SVOCs) in organic solvents (Now in STEM)
NMR and another LC-MS in STEM - Check Anton for the model numbers

Total organic carbon (TOC) analyzer
Gas chromatorgraph with flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and headspace sampler
Soxlet extractor/Solid Phase Extractor (SPE) / Sonic Extractor
Grinder/Siever
Water/soil sampler; Air sampling pump
Incubator shaker
Surface tension meter
Walk-in cold room for sample storage
Analytical balance/top loading balance
UV-VIS spectrometers
Sample preparation rooms for inorganic and organic analysis
Other available from bayou (DI water system) + LC/MS (STEM) + Ramman spectroscopy (STEM) + FTIR (STEM)

Table saw for production of Thin Section billets and preparation of rocks for crushing.
Iron mortar and pestle for rock crushing.
Sieves and sieve shaker to for grain size separation
L-1 Frantz isodynamic laboratory magnetic separator for isolating mineral fractions of unique magnetic susceptibility
Wifley Table (800 model) for separating high specific gravity from low specific gravity mineral separates
Fume hood and heavy liquids for high density mineral separation.

Our Zeiss Primotech D/A POL microscope provides transmission and reflectance polarized microscopy. The microscope is equipped with 5x, 10x, 20x, 50x, and 100x objective lenses and a digital camera.
Our Leica DM750P microscopes come with 4x, 10x, and 40x objectives and a conoscopic lens.

EM3 River Model by Little River Research and Design to analyze fluvial processes. This analogue model can be used to study the effects of constructed barriers on fluvial processes, the impacts of changing base level, wave action, and much more.
EMFlume1 Model by Little River Research and Design to evaluate fluid flow dynamics, river habitat hydraulics, and transport of sediments.

The hydrology lab has facilities and materials for sample collection and processing including:

grain-size analyses
soil and sediments sampling
soil moisture testing
water and soil chemical properties testing
porosity/permeability testing
hydraulic conductivities testing
stormwater collecting and sampling
infiltrometer for testing infiltration capacity and infiltration rate in the field
flow meters and oven to dry sediments and soil
soil column setting for column studies
a variety of lab demonstration for teaching in Environmental Science and Geology.
Additionally, there are ice room and cold storage room for the long-term storage and preservation of environmental samples (soil / sediment coring, biological tissues, etc.).

SYSCAL R1 Plus resistivity meter for medium-depth exploration for use in hydrophysical research. This instrument can be used to:

Licensed software includes:

Visual for Modflow and MT3D for flow and transport simulation in aquifer
Hdrus2D/3D for water and solute modeling in unsaturated zone.
Various pubic domain software packages are also installed to provide opportunities to conduct research on contaminant fate and transport, seawater intrusion, flooding risk analysis, soil and groundwater water remediation, water quality simulation and other cutting-edge research topics in hydrological field.