Student Research and Teaching Improvements at the Sevilleta Field Station

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The University of New Mexico Sevilleta Field Station is awarded a grant for the acquisition of major equipment items in support of teaching and research efforts in ecophysiology and molecular ecology, including a portable system for field analysis of photosynthesis and numerous equipment items required for molecular microbial ecology. The award will have a major impact on our summer REU program as well as summer courses that employ physiological and molecular-genetic approaches to ecology. It will enable the first offering of a summer course in microbial ecology during the summer of 2010. The Sevilleta Field Station is nearing the end of a five-year plan of program development that includes expansion of undergraduate and graduate research and the addition of 20 course-weeks per year of college-level teaching. The Field Station is located at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, less than an hour from Albuquerque (city of 500,000) and the University of New Mexico, less than a half hour from Socorro and New Mexico Tech, and minutes from several small rural communities encompassing tremendous social, ethnic and economic diversity. The station therefore provides access to educational and outreach opportunities for UNM students; K-12 students, teachers and citizens from Albuquerque and surrounding communities; and visiting scientists from institutions within and outside New Mexico. UNM is a minority serving institution, and the Sevilleta Field Station and Sevilleta LTER Program are dedicated to enhancing minority participation in field-based research. This award will contribute to a moderately sized, state-of-the-art teaching and research program at the Sevilleta Field Station.