Fort Lewis College (FLC) is an undergraduate, state-supported liberal arts institution educates students from the culturally diverse, four-corner's region of the Southwest, as well as other parts of the U.S. Originally an Indian High School in 1892, the college has a tradition and mandates from the State of Colorado to provide education opportunities to all Native Americans. As a part of the broad liberal arts mission, the biology and chemistry departments have developed nationally recognized undergraduate research programs. The college administration has supported these research programs by giving priority status in its Academic Master Plan to the training of future scientists in a collaborative environment. Subsequently, the college has made a commitment to the science program by supporting the renovation of outdated research and research training space that is inadequate to sustain research activities. This renovation project is a component of a much larger planned science building addition that will create additional teaching and research space for all the FLC sciences. The college, with ARI funds, will consolidate interdisciplinary biology and chemistry research laboratories that are currently dispersed throughout the science facility. Renovations will consist of: upgrading HVAC, electrical, and plumbing systems; improving the fire protection system, providing a laboratory workstation specifically designed for the physically challenged, and installing fixed equipment such as fume hoods, a glass washer, and a cold room. Once renovations are completed, faculty and students will have all the necessary equipment and lab space in one physical location, facilitating ongoing curricular development at FLC that emphasizes a community of faculty and student collaborative research and training. An atmosphere where research at the interface of biology and chemistry will be created, attracting and training future scientists in biotechnology and environmental assessment and remediation.
