Upgrading the Internet System at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory

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The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) is awarded a grant to enhance its research and education programs by installing a telecommunications system. A 501c3 organization, RMBL advances the deep scientific understanding of nature that promotes informed stewardship of the Earth. Each year RMBL hosts 200 student researchers and scientists from 100+ institutions, providing access to protected research sites and the research facilities needed to serve as a bridge between field sites and their home institutions. Research at RMBL has provided critical insights into a range of ecological and evolutionary questions, including evolution, stream ecology, climate change, population dynamics, behavioral ecology, and mutualisms. Additionally, research at RMBL has informed policy on management of streams, water and air quality, and climate change. This grant will pay for installation of an engineered internet system. Specifically, it will fund installation of a firewall, a LAN switch, appropriate routers, and a wireless LAN portfolio. This project will increase the ability to document and understand a changing world. Currently only a small percentage of the information collected by scientists makes it into the public domain. By providing reliable access to the internet, we can increase the percentage of data that is captured, archived, documented, and made available to future scientists. Additionally, this system will support access to information being collected by environmental sensors. The explosion in sensor technology has substantially increased the number of automated sensors that are deployed in field environments. This grant will provide the infrastructure needed to manage the information flows from those sensors. By supporting access to, and archiving of, sensor and human-collected information scientists will be better able to detect long-term change.This grant will support education activities. Both undergraduate and graduate students work directly with research scientists, including students funded through NSF's Research Experience for Undergraduates program. Providing students access to modern telecommunications technology in the support of research will help create a scientifically literate workforce. Further information about RMBL may be found at http://rmbl.org/rockymountainbiolab/.