A new laboratory for Blandy Experimental Farm

弗吉尼亚大学获得了一笔拨款，用于改善布兰迪实验农场的设施。布兰迪实验农场是位于谢南多厄山谷北部的一个占地700英亩的环境科学实地站。夏季驻留研究社区通常包括大约35名教师、博士后、研究生和本科生，布兰迪通过内部资金和NSF REU现场拨款为这些研究人员提供支持。研究领域包括传粉生态学、植物-食草动物相互作用、景观生态学、入侵物种生态学、食物网和群落生态学以及生物地球化学循环。在过去的二十年里，布兰迪一直保持着稳定的增长和生产力，但现在研究界已经开始达到或超过布兰迪物理基础设施的能力。这笔奖金将资助建造一座3900平方英尺的新大楼。实验室大楼，以满足未来二十年的预计需求。该设施将包括360平方英尺。样品处理的基本实验室空间，两个360平方英尺。配备了用于分析工作的化学罩的房间，以及第四个360平方英尺的房间。仪器和光学显微镜工作室。该建筑还将包括一个环境室，以及一个单独的冰箱、冰柜和烤箱的房间。新实验室的建设将影响到布兰迪的所有项目。直接受益的将是目前实验室空间不足的研究人员，首先是在布兰迪研究项目中担任主要调查员的常驻和访问教师和研究生。其次是由主要研究人员训练的研究人员，他们也在实验室工作。这包括三个不同的群体：reu、ret和个别辅导的高中生。布兰迪大学的REU项目与霍华德大学和波多黎各大学巴亚蒙分校建立了良好的合作关系，导致REU学生中代表性不足的群体占32%。布兰迪是国家生态观测站网络（NEON）计划中大西洋地区（2区）的一个“可搬迁”站点，重点关注土地利用和入侵物种。新的实验室设施将提供工作空间、标本存储空间、设备和参考材料的关键组合。布兰迪也是维吉尼亚州立植物园的所在地，并开发了一个与大学水平研究项目紧密结合的外展项目。布兰迪的外展将间接受益于该实验室设施，其外展项目所吸引的研究强度和多样性的增加。预计布兰迪？美国的外展项目最终将直接受益于新设施，通过后来开发的毗邻实验室空间，专门为高中学生服务。欲知详情，请浏览该站网站http://blandy.virginia.edu/。

The University of Virginia is awarded a grant to improve facilities at the Blandy Experimental Farm, a 700-acre environmental science field station in the northern Shenandoah Valley. The summer resident research community typically includes about 35 faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates, and Blandy provides support for these researchers through internal funds and an NSF REU site grant. Research strengths at Blandy include pollination ecology, plant-herbivore interactions, landscape ecology, the ecology of invasive species, food web and community ecology, and biogeochemical cycling. Blandy enjoyed steady growth and productivity over the past two decades, but now the research community has begun to reach or exceed the capacity of Blandy's physical infrastructure. This award will fund construction of a new 3900 sq. ft. laboratory building to meet projected needs for the next twenty years. The facility will include 360 sq. ft. of basic lab space for sample processing, two 360 sq. ft. rooms equipped with chemical hoods for analytical work, and a fourth 360 sq. ft. room for instrument and light microscopy work. The building also will include an environmental chamber, and a separate room for refrigerators, freezers, and ovens. The building of a new laboratory will impact all of Blandy's programs. The immediate benefit will go to the researchers currently underserved by existing laboratory space, starting with resident and visiting faculty and graduate students who serve as primary investigators on Blandy research projects. Next are researchers who are trained by those primary investigators and who also work in the laboratory. This includes three distinct groups: REUs, RETs, and individually mentored high school students. Blandy's REU program has well developed partnerships with Howard University and the University of Puerto Rico - Bayamon that have resulted in underrepresented groups constituting 32% of REU students. Blandy is a "relocatable" site in the Mid-Atlantic region (Domain 2) of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) program with a focus on land use and invasive species. The new laboratory facility will provide a crucial mix of work space, specimen storage space, equipment, and reference material. Blandy is also home to the State Arboretum of Virginia and has developed an outreach program that is strongly integrated with its university-level research programs. Outreach at Blandy will benefit indirectly from this laboratory facility by an increase in the strength and diversity of research on which its outreach programs draw. It is anticipated that Blandy?s outreach programs will eventually benefit directly from the new facility through the later development of adjacent laboratory space dedicated to high school students. For futher information, please visit the station website at http://blandy.virginia.edu/.