This Academic Research Facilities Modernization Program (ARFMP) award from the Research Facilities Office provides funds to Duke University for the renovation and repair of the Biological Sciences Building which houses that institution's Departments of Botany and Zoology and the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and thus its systematics, ecology, physiology, genetics, cell, molecular, and other biological research and research training activities. This building was constructed in 1961, and there has been no renovation of the building's basic systems since its construction. The ARFMP grant of $1,900,000 and $2,939,335 provided by the grantee as cost sharing will be used to modernize these research and research training facilities. This project will address the need to improve the current research infrastructure by providing conditions compatible with new techniques and methodologies of biology which require accurate environmental control, stable and sufficient electrical power, pure water supply, and ready access to local and international computer networks. The renovation will also assure a flexible infrastructure enabling the support of developing and currently unforeseen areas of biological investigation that could not otherwise be pursued. 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 and graduate students. Students trained in these laboratories will have access to a stable, reliable environment which is necessary for the preservation of collections, for long-term experimentation and research, and for the operation of computers and sophisticated scientific equipment.
