FSML: Renovation of SWRS Main House to Provide a Lecture/ Meeting Room and to Enlarge/Enhance the Dining Room

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The Southwestern Research Station (SWRS) of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) was established in 1955 and is located in southeastern Arizona. There it offers field biologists, from numerous U.S. and international institutions, a modern research facility with access to a wide range of biological communities. The primary objective of the Station is to provide accommodations and scientific to support the activities of scientists, graduate students, undergraduate courses, scientific meetings, and workshops. One measure of institutional success the SWRS has achieved over the years is the body of scientific generated at the Station, over 900 publications in peer review journals. The main House building at the SWRS contains a dining room, where scientists, students, and staff share meals and exchange ideas, and a lounge/lecture room where scientific presentations, classes, etc. occur. The current facility is small and overcrowded, which impedes its ability to serve these functions well. The renovations encompassed by this project are aimed at 1) alleviating a facilities bottleneck in the ability of the SWRS to significantly improve the environment for the intellectual exchanges between the scientists and students utilizing the Station from across the country, and 2) increasing the ability of the Station to serve as a meeting site for regional, national, and international scientific meetings and workshops. Thus, the proposed building renovation will enhance the activities of all scientists and students utilizing the Station. Changes in the Main House will expand the seating capacity of the dining room from 62 to 82 and will improve its acoustics, and the lounge/lecture room (current capacity 30) will be enlarged to become a lecture hall facility that will have seating capacity for 100 people. The modernized dining room, where everyone at the Station eats, will have an environment conducive to the exchange of ideas between established scientists, graduate students, undergraduate SWRS volunteers, undergraduates in university classes, meeting and workshop participants, and naturalists. The lecture hall will (1) continue to fulfill its role as a lounge/casual meeting area, (2) afford ample space (currently extremely crowded) for the 40+/- seminars held on a regular basis by and for residents at the Station, and (3) provide a meeting area for larger groups of scientists coming to the Station for meetings, workshops, and retreats. The additional capacity will allow the SWRS to improve and expand its role as a leading national center for biological research and education in the Southwest. The positive impact on the quality of research at the Station will come about through conditions that promote additional collaborations between visiting scientists, and b integrating the research activities and results into the informal and formal education programs.