A partnership between NSF and Indiana University will renovate facilities for the Astronomy Department within 34 year-old Swain Hall West. The renovation activities will develop a high-performance local observing station and a modern instrument development laboratory for the design and fabrication of state-of-the-art electronic and electro-optical instrumentation. Coupling today's computer controlled telescopes and electronic instrumentation with high-speed digital communication capabilities, it is possible to do interactive observations from locations that are remote from the physical location of the telescope. Indiana University researchers expect to conduct observations from the university facility utilizing the Wisconsin, Indiana, Yale and National Optical Astronomy Observatories (WIYN) telescope at Kitt Peak, AZ and the more local, and recently funded, robotic telescope at Morgan Monroe State Forest, 15 miles from the Bloomington campus. The new Remote Observation facility will include a network of powerful computer workstations, and will enable research programs to be far more cost effective and efficient. Graduate and undergraduate students will be able to participate in modern astronomical research utilizing large telescopes without the expense and time involved in traveling to the telescope sites. A second emphasis of this renovation effort is the creation of an electronics and electro-optical fabrication facility for the continued development of instrumentation for the two telescopes. The development activities will assure the incorporation of the latest technology in the WIYN and Morgan Monroe State Forest robotic telescopes. The Astronomy department plans to make the renovated facility the central focus for departmental research and research training. Project beneficiaries include 7 faculty, 2 post docs, 18 graduate students and 15 undergraduates. Renovation activities will include
