FSML: Increasing Summer and Shoulder Season Housing Capacity at the RMBL

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This award supports construction of new housing at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) intended to provide spring, summer and fall housing for visiting scientists, students and research assistants. The RMBL is an independent, nonprofit field station that provides facilities for researchers and students who wish to study high-altitude biology in a field setting. Research at the station has addressed issues in climate change, use of exotic insects for biocontrol of forest pathogens, air pollution and pollen transport. The laboratory provides research and training facilities for approximately 160 scientists, students, and research assistants at a time; over the course of the spring through fall seasons, the RMBL provides for roughly 1000 user-days. A summer research training program supported by NSF has trained over 140 undergraduate students in the last 13 years. About a third of these students were members of groups underrepresented in the biological sciences. Since adopting a new strategic plan eight years ago, the RMBL has focused on bringing its existing housing up to acceptable standards. Currently, housing is adequate to reasonably house 147 individuals during the summer; extra individuals are accommodated by filling cabins beyond their capacity. Additionally, there has been increasing interest in use of the Lab during shoulder seasons (spring and fall) when most existing housing is unsuitable due to lack of sufficient heat and water. The new housing will consist of a 1200 sq. ft. cabin with a capacity of 8 persons that will use a winterized water system; the cabin will provide a modest increase in summer capacity, but will double the station's capacity to house scientists in the shoulder seasons.