The proposal requests funds for renovation of research space for the Department of Microbiology and Immunology (M&I). The proposed renovation will solve numerous problems. Floors, lighting and finishes will be replaced and numerous code violations eliminated. Aisle space will be redesigned to facilitate multiple users and interactions or access by the handicapped. Facilities for tissue culture and monoclonal antibody production will be improved for training graduate students. The renovated facility will enhance the recruitment of additional faculty and graduate students, and the present externally funded research projects of M&I. It will also enhance M&I's appropriate participation in NSF funded outreach programs at the university, including programs to motivate women and minority students toward a career in science and to provide hands-on training for elementary school teachers in the biological sciences. The renovation stresses open laboratories that maximize encounters between groups of researchers. This will facilitate mentorism between established, funded faculty and incoming new investigators, to increase interactions among a small number of faculty to increase scientific cooperation and the development of new and exciting areas of research, and to accommodate the use of communal laboratory equipment.
