Planning Grant for Program and Facility Enhancement for the UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station

马萨诸塞大学波士顿楠塔基特站已获得一项规划拨款，用于制定战略计划，指导未来5-10年的现场站，并扩大设施，以更好地满足当前和预期现场站用户不断增长的需求。马萨诸塞大学波士顿分校楠塔基特野外研究站（UMB-NFS）已经存在了40多年，在评估从气候变化对沿海栖息地的影响到研究入侵植物物种的遗传变异和进化趋势等科学问题方面占据着独特的地位。在UMB-NFS有一个增强的现场站的大量需求。尽管来自马萨诸塞大学系统和其他地方的大量教师在UMB-NFS开展了积极的研究、教育和推广计划，但由于缺乏足够的生活和实验室空间，这些工作受到限制。每天往返UMB-NFS和其他机构几乎是不可能的，因为它位于楠塔基特岛，距离大陆26英里。这限制了可以完成的研究和教育的性质和质量，并增加了所有用户的成本。FSML的这笔资金将使NFS能够制定建筑计划和全面的战略规划，以实现可持续扩张，同时通过调查、实地考察和利益相关者研讨会，让科学、教育、FSML社区以及野外站的长期用户参与规划工作。UMB-NFS全年向公众开放，夏季每天有超过100名游客，因此有很多机会向公众推广。主办公立和私立学校团体、老年人旅行、环境政策论坛、内城科学周静修和美洲原住民遗产项目是NFS对社区做出的众多贡献之一。由UMB-NFS支持的项目的多学科性质反映在现场讲授的课程主题上，这些课程涵盖了从沿海生态学到教学设计、水文学和考古学的各个领域。UMB-NFS是传统和非传统学生以及科学家进行广泛研究的基地。这项研究以各种方式传播给公众。土地管理研究、环境政策、生物学是这一研究的基础，但每容纳两到三名学生、实习生或科学家，就有一名被冷落。这一规划拨款的资金将确保NFS的作用得到支持，并使该站能够以可持续和有意义的方式发展。

The University of Massachusetts Boston Nantucket Field Station has been awarded a planning grant to create a strategic plan to guide the field station for the next 5-10 years and expand the facility to better meet the burgeoning needs of current and anticipated field station users. The UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station (UMB-NFS) has been in existence for over 40 years and occupies a unique position for evaluating scientific questions ranging from the effect of climate change on coastal habitats to investigating genetic variability and evolutionary trends in invasive plant species. There is substantial demand for an enhanced field station at the UMB-NFS. Although a significant number of faculty from the UMass system and elsewhere have active research, education, and outreach programs at the UMB-NFS, the work is limited by the lack of sufficient living and laboratory space. Daily travel to and from UMB-NFS and other institutions is virtually impossible due to its location on Nantucket Island, 26 miles from the mainland. This limits the nature and quality of the research and education that can be accomplished and increases costs for all users. This funding by FSML will allow the NFS to develop architectural plans and comprehensive strategic planning for sustainable expansion while involving the science, education, and FSML community, as well as the long term users of the field station, in the planning effort through the use of surveys, site visits, and stakeholder workshops. The UMB-NFS is open to the public year round, with upwards of 100 visitors per day in the summer, and as a result there are many opportunities for outreach to the general public. Hosting public and private school groups, senior citizen trips, environmental policy forums, inner city science week retreats, and Native American Heritage programs are among many contributions made to the community by the NFS. The multidisciplinary nature of the programs supported by the UMB-NFS is reflected in the topics of courses taught on site, which run the gamut from coastal ecology to instructional design, hydrology, and archeology. The UMB-NFS is a home base for a wide range of research done by traditional and nontraditional students and by scientists. That research is transmitted to the public in a variety of ways. Land management research, environmental policy, and biology are cornerstones of this research, but for every two or three students, interns, or scientists accommodated, one is left out in the cold. Funding of this planning grant will ensure that the role of the NFS is supported and that the Station is allowed to grow in a sustainable and meaningful way.