Science Facilities Renovation

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The project will replace an existing modular building, currently used to house Northwest Indian College?s (NWIC) science laboratories, with a new research building. The replacement will house the campus? laboratories for research in environmental science. NWIC serves many Indian Tribes throughout a large geographic region encompassing parts of Washington and Idaho, including tribes in the extended Coast Salish group. The main campus is at Lummi Nation near Bellingham, Washington. The laboratory facility will support faculty and student research in environmental research on topics such as: hypoxia and water quality in Bellingham Bay, phytoplankton community dynamics, wetland and shoreline ecology, salmon habitat restoration, and the impacts of potential sea level rise. In addition to providing infrastructure for research, the research facility will increase the number of undergraduate students exposed to and involved in research. The student body is primarily Native American and the project will help increase the engagement of members of this under-represented group in environmental science.