FSML: Improving infrastructure to facilitate research at the Pymatuning Lab of Ecology

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The University of Pittsburgh is awarded a grant to make infrastructure improvements to the Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology (PLE - http://www.biology.pitt.edu/facilities/pymatuning), one of the seven founding member of Organization of Biological Field Stations. With this award, an existing building constructed in the 1960s will be replace with one that will contain three new labs and multiple faculty research offices. The first lab will expand the space available for faculty and student research on bird behavior, and provide additional space suitable for animal research. Another large lab will be devoted to research in molecular and microbial ecology, an important and growing area of research for which PLE currently has no capacity. Several PLE research groups conduct research that includes molecular and microbial elements, but they must return to their home institutions to complete this work. This lab will include space to house an autoclave, glass dishwasher, centrifuge, ice machine, and other equipment. The third lab will be an invertebrate lab for two new PLE researchers and their students. Since 2007, PLE has undergone a revitalization and experienced tremendous growth in all of its many missions; research use has increased by 40%, undergraduate enrollment by 76%, outreach by 556%, and conference use by 45%. In terms of research publications, PLE produced an average of 3 publications/yr from 1981 to 2000; this has increased to 21 publications/yr from 2007 to 2011. During this time, six PIs have begun work at the station with three more expected in 2012. At the same time, the University has dedicated itself to improve the PLE facility by investing in wireless communication throughout the facility, renovating several building and constructing two new buildings. Although the construction of the new building is strongly motivated by a need to expand research capacity for internal and external NSF-funded researchers, it will also provide opportunities for new courses and expanded outreach. As PLE has experienced substantial growth in undergraduate enrollment, including the recent addition of five regional undergraduate universities to the PLE education consortium. The molecular/microbial lab at PLE will support synergistic activities including new courses in Molecular Ecology, Molecular Evolution, and Microbial Ecology. Equally exciting is the opportunity to dramatically increase outreach opportunities. While PLE outreach has grown strongly during the past 5 yrs, the addition of a molecular/microbial lab will be of immediate use to the Department of Biological Sciences' Outreach Office which reaches more than 320 middle and high school classes (8,300 students) annually throughout western PA. The new lab will allow the Outreach Office to use PLE (located 2 hrs north of Main Campus) as a second base of operations to conduct molecular and microbial outreach modules for regional high schools during the fall and winter months when researchers are not in residence. The Outreach Office conservatively estimates that a PLE-based operation could reach at least 25 schools (750 students) annually in northwestern PA. This carefully planned expansion of outreach efforts also extends the months of productivity for a traditionally seasonal field station.