This award funds the acquisition of a set of walk-in controlled-environment chambers for plant experimentation. They are equipped with temperature, humidity, photoperiod, lighting, and CO2 controls. Up to 13,500 plants will efficiently fit into these chambers, allowing experiments at all times of the year, including the hot Texas summers. The integrative plant research programs enabled by these chambers will span many sub-disciplines in biology, including cellular biology, molecular biology, developmental biology, physiology, ecology, evolution, and genetics. These chambers will have a stimulating effect on plant biology research throughout Northeast Texas, a region with over one million people that has several universities and colleges but that has almost no facilities for environmentally controlled plant experiments. The primary users for these chambers work with agriculturally important plant families, and their work has either direct or indirect implications for agriculture. Furthermore, the research in these chambers can be conducted under different climate scenarios, including increased CO2 levels and temperatures.
Undergraduates and graduate students will be allocated space in the chambers to work on these and other projects, providing invaluable training opportunities for future scientists, farmers, and land managers. These findings will be publicized by scientific publications, faculty and student presentations at regional and national meetings, and press releases to local media outlets, which have low barriers to news coverage and large audiences.
