FSML: Expansion of Laboratory Facilities at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Field Station

University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee WI

Investigators

Abstract

A grant has been awarded to Dr. James Reinartz, Dr. Peter Dunn, Dr. Jeffrey Karron, Dr. Gretchen Meyer, and Dr. Linda Whittingham at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee to expand the laboratory facilities at the Field Station. The UWM Field Station is a productive research site and is actively used for teaching. Since the Field Station was established in 1970, it has produced over 190 scientific publications and 111 graduate student dissertations. In the past five years alone, the Field Station has been used for 108 research projects by 94 different scientists from 28 institutions. More than 15 different universities regularly use the Field Station for instruction in a wide variety of courses, and the Station has averaged between 5 and 6 undergraduate independent study projects annually in the past five years. In addition, the Field Station conducts a workshop/short course program each year. These courses offer college level instruction on focused topics in natural history, and are available for advanced undergraduate/graduate credit through UWM. In the past five years, 34 short courses providing instruction to approximately 680 students have been held at the Station. The Field Station also has an active outreach program offering many educational opportunities to groups and the general public. The UWM Field Station has a six-year plan for a three-phase facilities improvement project that will accommodate its existing use and a modest level of projected growth in programs. The planned expansion of facilities includes: 1) a small addition to the Station's two-story lab/office building and remodeling of the existing building, 2) a larger, single-story addition to the lab building, and 3) construction of new sleeping quarters. This grant will fund the first phase of the project: a 1,280 gross ft 2 addition to the two-story lab/office building and a remodeling of the existing building. These first-phase improvements will add two research rooms: a room to house the biological collections maintained by the Field Station that will also provide lab space and one 300 ft 2 research lab. This project will also add a 490 ft 2 lab that can be dedicated for teaching use. The research and teaching labs will include sinks and fume hoods. In addition, the basement of the current lab/office building is not handicapped-accessible and the building lacks handicapped-accessible bathrooms; these deficiencies will be remedied in the remodelling. This grant will greatly increase the UWM Field Station's ability to support research use and to maintain its high quality of instruction. The construction of new research rooms will increase from one to three the number of lab spaces that can be used by researchers without interruption from teaching use of the facility. The wide diversity of research conducted at the site has already contributed greatly to the baseline information available on the Station's plant and animal communities, soils, hydrology, and geology, as has the Station's long-term data base development program. Expansion of the laboratory facilities will allow these productive research projects to continue with fewer conflicts over space, and will make the site more attractive to additional researchers. This grant will also add a dedicated teaching lab with a sink and fume hood, which will allow expansion of the workshop/short course program and greater use of the station by courses from UWM and other universities. In sum, new laboratory and teaching space will greatly increase the Field Station's research productivity and give more students the opportunity to study natural history and other topics at the Field Station.