CAMAS (Center for Archaeology, Materials and Applied Spectroscopy) brings together theoretical and methodological expertise in a wide array of analytical sciences. The center’s primary mission is to provide high quality, cost-effective analytical services to Idaho State University student and faculty researchers, external academic researchers and limited contract and professional services to businesses serving environmental, ecological and cultural and natural resource management agencies. To this end, CAMAS has established a fee structure that reflects a commitment to providing analytical services that are both accessible to external clientele and help offset the costs of undergraduate and graduate students doing original research in CAMAS’s affiliated labs. Additionally, funding comes from internal, state and federal granting agencies. Since 2008, over $2.5 million in grant support has come to the center, initially through large National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation grants (NSF-MRI; ~$900,000) and ongoing research awards of the principal investigators working on projects within CAMAS.

CAMAS performs routine and method development analyses and can also help with the completion of larger projects, with assistance in research design, method development, analysis and post-analysis data reduction and interpretation. The per sample pricing structure for routine analyses can be found here.

For a list of projects completed by the CAMAS lab and staff and examples of data types and research questions, see the research link here.