This award supports the acquisition of equipment to be used in the development of a plant growth facility that will facilitate research, training and educational activities in the Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences at Cleveland State University (CSU). The plant growth facility includes walk-in growth chambers, reach-in growth chambers, a seed storage chamber, and seed germinators. The facility will strengthen the departmental research program in molecular and organismal biology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. With the acquisition of growth facility, the graduate and undergraduate students and faculty members will be able to conduct more comprehensive and controlled experiments in order to better understand the mechanisms and impacts of species invasion, evolution of breeding systems, effects of environmental pollutants at the population and community levels, ecological processes in urban wetlands, and molecular mechanisms of plant responses to cold stress. The plant growth facility will particularly strengthen research of undergraduate students in our Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. The facility will also render academic support for classes and laboratories in several courses in environmental science, molecular methodology, and plant biology.
