The University of Central Oklahoma is awarded a grant for the construction of a multi-use building at the 334-acre Selman Living Laboratory (SLL) in northwestern Oklahoma. Since 1998, the University of Central Oklahoma has developed the SLL into a significant research and education facility. Demand by users has exceeded the station's capacity to accommodate groups larger than 20 at a time for research activities, presentations, seminars, or other events.The proposed 36x25 ft multi-use building will function as a classroom/laboratory, as a dining/kitchen facility, will contain restrooms and be available as a saferoom for 50 to 75 individuals.The SLL is the only field station in North America with a combination of mixed-grass prairies, gypsum outcrops, extensive gypsum caves, microbiotic crusts, and associated springs, wetlands and wildlife. Such unusual locales attract researchers, educators and the public. Therefore, the SLL with its unique habitats is an excellent site for phylogenetic and systematic studies, for investigations of biogeographic, historic and current distributions of organisms, for studies of seasonal phenology of plants and fungi, for conducting population and genetic studies, for preserving DNA tissue samples, and for analyzing land use and stewardship of natural systems.
The new structure will contribute to integrating and actively engaging students at various levels in science. UCO is a provider of NSF's SURE-STEP Program, and the multi-use building will be available to UCO students and mentors to promote critical thinking and to attract generations of conservationists and research scientists. It will help recruit students into STEM disciplines, and underrepresented groups into college. The building will allow Alabaster Caverns State Park and the SLL to offer science, research and ecotourism experiences through regularly scheduled interpretive and summer camp programs in ecology and natural history. The facility will support cross-disciplinary activities that dovetail with biology, e.g., geography, environmental chemistry, environmental politics, western history, art, archaeology, geology, forensic science, and meteorology.
