Miami University is awarded a grant which will enable its Ecology Research Center (ERC) to collaborate with a local natural area, the Hueston Woods State Park (HWSP), in the development of a plan for a Watershed Education and Research Center. Miami ecologists have developed a unique understanding of the ecological processes operating in the watershed that drains into the HWSP reservoir and the impact regional landscape changes have on the aquatic environment. Formalizing this relationship between the ERC and HWSP will make this watershed research accessible to a broader audience. The project includes: (1) focus groups targeting varied stakeholder communities (including boaters, vacationers, local residents, area farmers, researchers, educators, and others) to gather ideas for the center, (2) an interdisciplinary team of faculty and students from the Miami Design Collaborative (MDC), which includes marketers, psychologists, graphics designers and architects, to develop a plan for the graphical, virtual, and physical layout of the center, and (3) researchers, university administrators, state and federal legislators, private foundations, and granting agencies to create a plan for funding the center. The vision is for a center that enables visitors to interact with researchers and participate in realtime data collection and hypothesis testing through both virtual and hands-on experiments.
Soliciting the input of varied stakeholder communities in the planning process, including explicitly seeking input from minority communities in nearby urban areas, is likely to ensure their support for the collaboration. Involving a truly interdisciplinary team in the planning process will result in a dynamic plan that incorporates the interests of that broad audience. In the long-term, generations of students, researchers, teachers, fishermen, boaters, and others will experience first-hand the challenges of interpreting data, the intricacies of designing experiments, and thrill of discovery.
