This Academic Research Facilities Modernization Program (ARFMP) award from the Research Facilities Office provides funds to the Field Museum of Natural History for the renovation and repair of paleontological facilities housed in the Department of Geology. This building was constructed more than 25 years ago and has not been renovated since 1975. The ARFMP grant of $375,000 and $420,495 provided by the grantee as cost sharing will be used to modernize these research and research training facilities and will permit the accommodation of multiple users. This project will address the need to improve the current research infrastructure in terms of health and safety as well as of the quality and range of research that can be conducted by modernizing the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), electrical, and plumbing systems; constructing new workbenches; and moving the Geomagnetics Laboratory and Image Analysis Laboratory into renovated, larger, dedicated rooms. This award contributes to the infrastructure of science by providing an improved environment for the conduct of paleontological research and for the training of quality undergraduate and graduate students not only from the United States but also from many other countries. Students trained in these laboratories, with access to these outstanding paleontological collections, can benefit from research opportunities not available at the neighboring universities with which they have a collaborative relationship, namely, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois-Chicago, and Northwestern University. The studies of students at the Field Museum will complement the programs and facilities at these collaborating institutions.
