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

马萨诸塞大学波士顿南塔基特野战站已获得规划赠款，用于制定指导未来5-10年野战站的战略计划，并扩大该设施，以更好地满足当前和预期野战站用户的迅速增长的需求。马萨诸塞州大学波士顿南塔基特野外站(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调查入侵植物物种的遗传变异性和进化趋势等各种科学问题方面占据着独特的地位。有大量需求，需要在联合核管理--网络处设立一个增强型外勤站。虽然来自马萨诸塞州大学系统和其他地方的相当数量的教职员工在UMB-NFS拥有积极的研究、教育和外联计划，但由于缺乏足够的生活和实验室空间，工作受到限制。由于其位于距离大陆26英里的楠塔基特岛，每天往返于UMB-NFS和其他机构几乎是不可能的。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提供的这笔资金将使国家科学基金会能够为可持续扩展制定建筑规划和全面战略规划，同时让科学、教育和FSML社区以及外地站的长期用户通过使用调查、实地考察和利益攸关方讲习班参与规划工作。UMB-NFS全年向公众开放，夏季每天有100多名参观者，因此有许多机会接触普通公众。举办公立和私立学校小组、老年人旅行、环境政策论坛、市中心科学周务虚会和美洲原住民遗产项目是国家自然基金会为社区做出的许多贡献之一。UMB-NFS所支持的计划的多学科性质反映在现场教授的课程主题中，这些课程涵盖了从沿海生态学到教学设计、水文学和考古学的所有领域。UMB-NFS是由传统和非传统学生以及科学家进行的广泛研究的大本营。这项研究通过各种方式传递给公众。土地管理研究、环境政策和生物学是这项研究的基石，但每容纳两三名学生、实习生或科学家，就有一人被冷落。为这笔规划赠款提供资金将确保支持国家森林论坛的作用，并使空间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.