The West Greene School District (WGSD) in partnership with RJ Lee Group (RJLG) has been designing and developing innovative programs as part of the Schoolhouse Project to provide exceptional educational and business opportunities to its students. The objective of the educational/business partnership are multiple including motivating students to pursue advanced education, especially in mathematics, computer sciences, engineering, and the basic sciences; enriching the educational experience beyond that commonly available to students in rural communities; and improving the general attractiveness of the region for business growth. Access to remote analytical instrumentation is a key component of the Schoolhouse Project. To encourage remote access, RJLG has recently developed microscopy-at-a-distance Web-based technologies which enable control and operation of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) over the internet.

The SEM was chosen as the initial advanced analytical instrumentation because 1) its imaging and elemental composition functions have made it a standard analytical tool throughout research and industry, 2) it can be applied to many disciplines, and 3) students find it easy and fun to operate.