The instrument without the room would be sort of crazy, so Tech increased its cost-share and funded the room. In a room where you test for magnetic properties, all of your equipment must be non-magnetic. Storage cabinets have no metal hardware. No magnetic materials could enter the room, at a time when labs in the new building were still under construction. There has been a renewed interest in magnetic properties as scientists have discovered a connection with climate change.
Magnetic properties tend to be quicker responders to climate change, in some cases.
While they have done extensive work in the Great Lakes region over the years, the Diehls have also benefitted from recent renewed interest in Lake Superior. We can open up the cores and do a sub-sampling of a cube of mud. We may be able to get an idea of dry and wet periods and their durations. The more we know about past climates, the more we'll be able to predict what happens in the future. Oil-bearing rock may have a magnetic personality, as well, providing another use for this basic scientific research.