Professor Adrian Mann and a team of Rutgers University co-investigators have been awarded a one-year, $279,317 instrumentation grant by the Office of Naval Research as part of the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP). The grant will support the purchase of a �Combined Micro-Raman and Near-field Scanning Optical Microscope for Characterization of Nanostructured Materials�. The instrument will be used for the characterization of elastic strains and chemical phases in natural and artificial ceramics, polymers and composites. The instrument will be particularly useful for characterization of healthy and diseased mineralized tissues.