9313521 Bolla The Biology Department of St. Louis University has an active and growing group of faculty in the area of botanical research. In the last three years, their research and research training efforts have expanded to the point that their outdated facilities are no longer able to provide suitable space. This is especially true for faculty-supervised student research projects. Undergraduates hoping to work on independent research projects are now routinely turned away for lack of suitable lab space. To resolve this problem, St. Louis University has planned to renovate a moribund research lab into a shared-use lab for students and faculty, and to replace a research greenhouse whose environmental controls cannot be repaired. The research lab will receive new casework, an autoclave, plumbing, laminar flow and fume hoods, as well as new space partitioning. The new greenhouse will have modern environmental controls that will support a wide range of experiments. These facilities modernization projects will alleviate the space shortage by creating highly suitable environments for research in plant growth and physiology, biochemistry, and plant pathology. The renovations will enable student and faculty research collaborations, and will help to attract students to careers in science. ***
