The Shannon Point Marine Center (www.wwu.edu/spmc) is awarded support to create an on-site, state-of-the-art Imaging Center, meeting a pressing need to display, capture, and analyze high-quality digital images and video. With the addition of an Imaging Center to existing research capacity, scientists at SPMC will be better able to address questions from subcellular to organismal levels within an existing framework of field ecology, oceanography, experimental ecology, chemical/physiological ecology, and molecular biology. The center will allow researchers to take full advantage of existing SPMC resources while developing new research themes in, for example, seagrass ecology, invertebrate larval behavior, ocean acidification, and molecular ecology. The center will house three research-quality microscopes (epifluorescence, DIC-capable compound and stereo microscopes), associated cameras (monochrome, color and high-speed video), imaging software, and supporting computer equipment. This new equipment will support the increasing breadth and complexity of research activities of resident scientists and visiting researchers. It will also provide opportunities for training and research by a host of student researchers at SPMC, including undergraduates participating in NSF-supported REU Site and COSEE internships, and the Multicultural Initiative in the Marine Sciences: Undergraduate Participation (MIMSUP) program. SPMC also trains faculty from local community colleges to incorporate marine science into the curricula of introductory courses, impacting students who typically do not pursue degrees in marine science or science of any discipline. The Imaging Center will play an important role in training workshops for these groups and in outreach efforts to public audiences through the SPMC Public Education Experiential Learning program. Based on activity at SPMC during the past 5 years, we expect that the Imaging Center will annually benefit up to 13 full-time faculty and staff researchers, 20 undergraduate student and 15 graduate student researchers, and some proportion of the 150 students and 700+ visitors who, each year, spend time at SPMC taking courses, participating in workshops, attending lectures or taking tours.
Founded in 1973, and located in Anacortes, Washington, SPMC has as its mandate 1) research on the marine habitats and living resources of the Puget Sound basin, 2) support of undergraduate marine science courses offered by Western Washington University and a number of other public institutions, 3) close articulation between research and instruction at the undergraduate and graduate student levels, 4) expanding the potential for research and training by promoting participation of visiting scientists and 5) assuring broader impact of research and training activities by actively promoting ocean literacy in the general population and by effectively translating research to a broader audience. To fulfill these goals, SPMC participates in a graduate program, an NSF-sponsored program for underrepresented minority students (Multicultural Initiative in the Marine Sciences: Undergraduate Participation) and other undergraduate programs nationwide (REU Site and COSEE programs). The participation by SPMC staff in the work of the Northwest Straits Commission and their local Marine Resource Committees has led to new initiatives to study proposed Marine Protected Areas. Research on other topics of local concern includes studies on the dynamics of macroalgal and microalgal blooms and the impacts of ocean acidification on phytoplankton and on larvae of commercial species. Access by students and visiting scientists to local study sites, including the Shannon Point beach and the nearby Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, enhances the value of SPMC as a location for research on long-term processes that results from the accumulation of data over time and from the stability provided by Shannon Point's supporting facilities.
