This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
This project renovates a suite of 13 contiguous, outdated and marginally functioning, research laboratories and their associated infrastructure in the Marine Science Laboratory at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science. Renovations will allow students and faculty working in these facilities to carry out state-of-the-art marine research funded by NSF and other agencies in a variety of topical areas such as coral reefs, ocean optics, marine mass spectrochemistry, biogeochemical cycles, climate change, bio-indicator and chemical sensor development, ocean acidification, and plankton studies among others. Renovations include termite repair and installation of metal casework, installation of new fume hoods, and updates to the electrical, 70 year-old plumbing system, 25 year-old HVAC, and to building air handling. The renovation will ameliorate negative conditions that have become health and safety issues. Broader impacts include increasing the infrastructure for science by providing modern and safe resaerch facilities and dramatically increasing capacity for graduate and undergraduate student research training and external user collaborations. the work will also benefit local in-service K-12 science teacher training programs as well as the institution's and faculty's efforts outreach to high school girls through summer oceanography programs and middle school science students via a televised oceanography courses taught by Marine Science faculty.
This award provided funds for renovation of the roughly 8000 square feet of the Marine Science Laboratory Building at the College of Marine Science, University of South Florida. Prior to renovation, the lab areas in question were poor environments for research. The casework was old and termite-ridden with an insufficient number of fume hoods that bordered on un-safe. Electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems were unreliable and problematic at best. Conditions now stand in stark contrast. For the first time in several decades, the rooms have proper climate contol, electric and plumbing service that is code-compliant and problem free, and lab furniture that enables research and academic activity rather than hinder it. New fume hoods are now located in every lab and have state of the art flow controls that provide a safe area for working with hazardous materials. In addition to long-overdue improvements in every aspect of these labs, there are particular renovation components that provide specific benefits such as a dark room for ocean optics work, an emergency generator that supports critcal instruments and sample storage, and occupancy sensors linked to room lighting and climate control. Faculty and students are now empowered to perform funded research in marine biology, ocean optics, water quality, ocean acidification, and paleoclimate.
