FSML: Improvement in Facilities, Site Access and Data Management at Mpala Research Centre. Kenya.

该奖项为改善Mpala研究中心(MRC)提供部分支持，以改善现场访问和安全。这些改进措施包括改善了对景观最频繁部分的访问和安全，即由国家科学基金会资助的大型围栏实验，以及为参加课程的大批学生提供住宿的露营地，以及越来越多地为参加研究和保护主题讲习班的代表提供住宿。它还将为空间站研究车辆提供有盖的停车位，并加强雨水收集。将购买的设备将加强环境监测数据的存档和检索，并更新22,000公顷MRC财产和邻近生境的卫星图像清单。MRC位于埃瓦索生态系统的核心，这是一个广阔而多样的稀树草原，维持着数量惊人的野生动物种群，其中大部分没有受到正式保护。该中心是与普林斯顿大学、史密森学会、肯尼亚国家博物馆和肯尼亚野生动物服务机构等受托人合作，以信托形式管理的。MRC的工作推进了环境、生物和保护科学的研究，并通过将课堂学习与实际实地经验相结合来培养下一代环境科学家。住宿和科学设施可容纳多达36名科学家和学生，包括配备基本DNA分析的实验室。在过去的12年里，MRC实施了50多个项目，其中包括目前正在进行的7个NSF资助的项目，以及在过去5年中已经完成的另外8个NSF资助的项目。由于MRC已经成为肯尼亚科学家研究和教育的核心，包括所有年级和大学水平的学生，以及为政府机构工作的非传统学生，这些改进将继续管理该中心的四个托管组织的努力，以提高世界各地下一代科学领袖的能力。

This award provides partial support for improvements to the Mpala Research Centre (MRC) that will improve site access and safety. The enhancements include improved access to and safety within the most frequented parts of the landscape, namely, the large-scale exclosure experiments funded by NSF, and the campsite, which provides accommodation for large groups of students on courses, and increasingly, for delegates to workshops with research and conservation themes. It will also provide for sheltered parking for station research vehicles and enhanced rain water collection. Equipment to be purchased will provide enhanced archiving and retrieval of environmental monitoring data, and an updated inventory of satellite imagery of the 22,000 hectare MRC property and of neighboring habitats. The MRC lies at the core of the Ewaso ecosystem, a vast and diverse savanna maintaining prodigious wildlife populations, much of it not formally protected. The Centre is administered as a Trust, in partnership with Trustees that include Princeton University, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museums of Kenya and the Kenya Wildlife service. Work at the MRC advances research in the environmental, biological, and conservation sciences, and also educates the next generation of environmental scientists by melding classroom learning with practical field experiences. Residential and scientific facilities are available for up to thirty-six scientists and students, including labs equipped for basic DNA analysis. In the last 12 years, more than fifty projects have been conducted at the MRC, including seven NSF funded projects currently underway, and another eight NSF supported projects that have been completed during the last five years. Because MRC has become central to the research and education of Kenyan scientists, including students of all grades and university levels and, as well, non-traditional students who work for governmental agencies, the improvements will continue the efforts of the four trustee organizations that manage the Center to enhance the capabilities of the next generation of scientific leaders world wide.