The University of New Mexico is awarded a grant to complete the third and final phase of a long term strategic plan to improve the Sevilleta Education and Research Facility (SERF) for visiting scientists, summer REU students, graduate students and group training. This project involves the components to complete and equip shell spaces in the facility to provide growth chambers, a computer laboratory, and an institutional kitchen. The first consists of the acquisition of several environmental chambers of various sizes and capabilities to enable controlled-environment experiments with plants, insects, small animals and microorganisms. The second component is a multi-purpose computer research and training laboratory that will allow training and data analysis ranging from GIS to molecular evolution and ecology. Funds will provide for computer workstations, visualization equipment, and tables to furnish this multi-use classroom-sized computer laboratory. The third component is to complete kitchen facilities available to researchers participating in events such as training workshops, research conferences, LTER working groups, and formal and informal gatherings of REU summer students. Previous phases of this strategic plan have been completed and resulted in the construction of a new 20,000 square-foot facility and an increase in guest capacity from 48 to 82 through a combination of new construction and renovation of existing buildings.
The intellectual merit exists in the goal to develop modern facilities for researchers in many fields of biological science. The broader impacts include greater access to learning opportunities and research facilities for an extremely diverse student population at UNM, and for other visiting scientists and their students from institutions within and outside New Mexico. UNM is a minority serving institution, and the Sevilleta Field Station and Sevilleta LTER Program are dedicated to enhancing minority participation in field-based research.
For more information about the Sevilleta Education and Research Facility please visit: http://sevfs.unm.edu/
This award supported the acquisition of a) 21 desktop computers and furniture for a computer laboratory, and b) 7 growth chambers (2 plant, 2 animal, 3 general purpose) in support of research at the University of New Mexico Sevilleta Field Station. As a result of this award, we come close to finishing a modernization and renovation effort that began nearly 10 years ago. The computers will support formal and informal training in data analysis and statistical methods, and they will be available for summer student researchers and other researchers. The growth chambers will support undergraduate, graduate and faculty research. Examples of existing research projects that will benefit from the growth chambers include studies of themoregulation in lizards, characterization of fungal endophytes associated with aridland shrubs and grasses, and studies designed to understand the factors that influence of the distribution of aridland grasses, including blue grama. As examples of computer-laboratory activities, this past summer, the laboratory was used for a workshop in Remote Data Acquisition and Sensor Training and for an advanced course in Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics (Biology 410/510). The training workshop covered topics in basic electronics, photovoltaic power systems, Wi-Fi networking and telemetry systems, sensor theory, and Campbell Scientific datalogger wiring and programming. Participants in the workshop included 11 field technicians, 2 graduate students, 1 postdoctoral associate, 1 early career faculty member, and 3 other research professionals. Topics covered in the Biology 410/510 course included acquisition of DNA sequence data, modern metagenomic and transcriptomic approaches to ecology, an introduction to computational biology, genome evolution, and genomic approaches to evolutionary biology. Participants included 7 undergraduates and 3 graduate students (see accompanying photos). The intellectual merit of this award exists in the goal to develop modern facilities for researchers in the field of environmental science. The broader impacts include greater access to learning opportunities and research facilities for an extremely diverse student population at UNM, and for other visiting scientists and their students from institutions within and outside New Mexico. UNM is a minority serving institution, and the Sevilleta Field Station and Sevilleta LTER Program are dedicated to enhancing minority participation in field-based research.
