This Academic Research Facilities Modernization Program (ARFMP) award from the Research Facilities Office provides funds to California State University Los Angeles for the renovation and repair of the Biological Sciences Building which houses that institution's biological and microbiological research and research training activities. This building was constructed in 1958 and has not been renovated since that time. The ARFMP grant of $750,000 and $1,032,000 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 both in terms of health and safety and of the quality, quantity, and diversity of research that can be undertaken by redesigning the work space in a number of individual laboratories and by bringing the power and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems up to standard. This award contributes to the infrastructure of science by providing an improved environment for the conduct of research and for the training of primarily undergraduate students in an institution with a particular commitment to and a successful record of recruiting and educating underrepresented minorities. The modernization supported will significantly increase the numbers of such ethnic minorities who may receive research training and be exposed to modern scientific methods and techniques in the biological sciences.
