This Academic Research Facilities Modernization Program (ARFMP) award from the Research Facilities Office provides funds to the University of Maine for the repair and renovation of Murray Hall and Winthrop Libby Hall which house that institution's marine biological and biological oceanography research and research training activities. These buildings were constructed, respectively, in 1968 and 1962. Murray Hall has not since been renovated, and Winthrop Libby Hall has been expanded by small additions in 1965 and 1970, but it has never had any major renovations since the time of its construction. The ARFMP grant of $100,000 and $110,550 provided by the grantee as cost sharing will be used to modernize these research and research training facilities which are under the aegis of a group of highly productive, collaborative marine zoological researchers. This project will address the need to improve the current research infrastructure both in terms of health and safety and of building systems and the configuration of the space. The project is consistent with priorities at the institutional level to expand research and graduate training and to emphasize marine and biological sciences, at the regional level to expand research focused on the Gulf of Maine, and at the national level to develop thrusts in application of molecular biology to ocean sciences and in fisheries oceanography. This award contributes to the infrastructure of science by providing an improved environment for the conduct of research and for the training of quality undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students. The professional development of the faculty and their visiting scientists will also accrue from this renovation.
