This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
This award provides funds for State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) to modernize The Center for Integrated Research and Teaching in Aquatic Science (CIRTAS) facility and Thousand Islands Biological (TIBS) field station. Funds will be provided to renovate existing wet labs at CIRTAS and a supporting wet lab at TIBS, and cyber-infrastructure to better link these facilities. CIRTAS is a shared-use facility housed in ESF's Illick Hall. It spans several departments, and was formed in 2006 to foster multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborations, improve a shared resource facility for research and training, and strengthen linkages between aquatic research on the main campus and at the affiliated Thousand Islands Biological (TIBS) field station. TIBS is a primary research and student training site. The current experimental wet labs at the CIRTAS facility and TIBS are inadequate for current research and research training programs. This infrastructure project will greatly enhance research capabilities by (1) allowing research requiring sterile and clean techniques; (2) preventing cross-contamination and improving decontamination of facilities and waste-water; (3) improving temperature control for experimental rooms; and (4) upgrading cyber-infrastructure to facilitate collaborations between research teams and classes working at CIRTAS and TIBS by installing a high-speed data link at TIBS and a dedicated line and firewall to allow CIRTAS to host a server for data sharing.
The proposed renovations are important for successful investigations of ecological and evolutionary processes linking diseases, non-native species, and toxins; they also allow the study of a wider taxonomic range of organisms and the use of modern tracers and genetic tools. Improved data and teleconferencing connections between CIRTAS and TIBS will allow investigators to link field observations with controlled experimental studies. CIRTAS and TIBS will be used to cross train graduate students in Chemistry, Environmental Biology, and Aquatic and Fisheries Science. The facilities currently support training programs for undergraduate students from groups traditionally under-represented in science (including the Research Experiences for Undergraduates and Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology programs). The staff work closely with state agencies and managers to include relevant results from research at CIRTAS and TIBS in management plans. Personnel are directly involved in public outreach, including stakeholder and teacher workshops, public presentations, and SUNY's "ESF in the High School" program. With the additional capacity at CIRTAS for streaming data from TIBS field sensors, the PIs will increase the facilities' web presence to include field and lab exercises for teachers, as well as searchable and real-time data for scientists and other stakeholders.
SUNY ESF has a large, collaborative aquatics faculty, and a strong tradition of high quality field programs. Interdisciplinary collaborations across the college have increased over the past decade, with the recognition that environmental problem solving benefits from this approach. The Center for Integrated Research and Teaching in Aquatic Science (CIRTAS) spans several departments and was formed to foster multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborations, improve a shared resource facility for research and training, and strengthen linkages between aquatic research on the main campus and at our affiliated Thousand Islands Biological (TIBS) field station, a primary research and student training site. With the addition of over six new aquatics faculty in the past decade, our team is poised to pursue a research agenda investigating the increasingly important roles of (1) diseases, (2) invasive species, and (3) natural/anthropogenic contaminants and toxins in aquatic organisms and food webs. Our expanded expertise allows us to study these pressing issues from the genetic to the ecosystem level. The experimental wet labs at the CIRTAS facility and TIBS were built primarily for housing fish, and are inadequate for our research and training programs. This proposal funded extensive renovations of existing wet labs, supporting labs, and cyber-infrastructure essential for research on our three focal areas. This infrastructure project (1) allows research requiring sterile and clean techniques; (2) reconstructed wet labs to prevent cross-contamination and facilitate decontamination of facilities and waste-water; (3) improved temperature control for experimental rooms; and (4) upgraded cyber-infrastructure to facilitate collaborations between research teams and classes working at CIRTAS and TIBS by installing a high-speed data link at TIBS and a dedicated line and firewall to allow CIRTAS to host a server for data sharing. These proposed renovations are critical for successful investigation of ecological and evolutionary processes linking diseases, non-native species, and toxins; they also allow study of a wider taxonomic range of organisms and use of modern tracers and genetic tools; improved data and teleconferencing connections between CIRTAS and TIBS, allowing us to link field observations with controlled experimental studies. The renovated TIBS facility is being used for many new funded project including projects involving viral pathogens of fish, exotic species, and include training of more than five undergraduate and graduate students to date. Outreach activities included Great Lakes ecology field experiences for K-12 teachers and participation in development of learning modules related to water quality, food webs, and fisheries. Children visited the facility for an "Ichthyologist for a Day" event. The CIRTAS facility will be commissioned and open to scientific research in spring 2014 after completion of work on State University of New York construction projects in the facility. The renovated facilities will remain shared resources and vastly improve our capacity for research and training. This project will enhances the research and teaching programs of several early career scientists. In addition, CIRTAS and TIBS will be used to train graduate students in at least two departments, as well as for independent graduate and undergraduate student projects. The facilities will also be utilized in upper division courses in at least three majors (Chemistry, Environmental Biology, and Aquatic and Fisheries Science). The PIs and Senior Personnel are involved in a number of training programs for undergraduate students from groups traditionally under-represented in science (including REU and UMEB) and will continue to involve these and other students in research and training using the renovated facilities. The PIs and Senior Personnel will continue to work closely with state agencies and managers to include relevant results from research at CIRTAS and TIBS in management plans. CIRTAS members and other Senior Personnel are directly involved in public outreach, including stakeholder and teacher workshops, public presentations, and SUNY’s "ESF in the High School" program. With the additional capacity at CIRTAS for streaming data from TIBS field sensors, as well as increased potential for workshop offerings and outreach activities in the renovated facilities, we plan eventually to increase our web presence. This includes adding exercises for teachers, searchable and real-time data for sportsmen, scientists and other stakeholders, and schedules of public workshops, and outreach videos.
