NSF-CAPACITY FIELD STATIONS: EXPANDING WALK-IN ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL CHAMBER CAPACITY AND FUNCTIONALITY AT HIGHLANDS BIOLOGICAL STATION

NSF 能力现场站：扩大高地生物站步入式环境控制室的能力和功能

• 批准号: 2122771
• 负责人: James Costa
• 金额: $ 18.64万
• 依托单位: Western Carolina University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122771&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; CAPACITY; FIELD; STATIONS; EXPANDING

Walk-in environmental rooms that provide precision control of temperature, relative humidity, and light have a great many applications in research and education. The twin 1980s-era environmental control chambers at Highlands Biological Station (HBS: highlandsbiological.org) have been real work-horses, supporting hundreds of studies on plants and animals over the years in many research areas, from behavior, ecology, and climate change to development, genetics, and physiology — especially work with lungless salamanders, one of the most ecologically important animal groups in southern Appalachian forests and streams. In addition to research, these chambers have also supported class demonstrations and student research projects in HBS field courses. The chambers are now very dated, however, with aging plumbing, wiring, and analog controls that no longer function reliably, hampering research and other applications. This project will replace and upgrade the functionality of these chambers while also expanding capacity, adding a third walk-in environmental control room. The goal is both expanded capabilities and expanded capacity in order to support a broader range of applications in research, teaching, class projects, public programs, and demonstrations. Working with leaders in the design and construction of precision scientific and industrial environmental control rooms, this project entails fabricating and installing 3 new chambers on the footprint of the old ones. The design realizes a net gain of over 16 square feet of working area and 215 cubic feet of conditioned space, reliably providing the precision temperature, relative humidity, light control and other capabilities needed by today's researchers and for instructional applications. The replacement chambers will also feature increased shelf space with interior electrical outlets to accommodate peripheral equipment such as video or grow lights, as well as remote-monitoring functionality so that HBS staff, researchers, and instructors can monitor chamber conditions via mobile device or desktop on a continuous basis.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

可精确控制温度、相对湿度和光线的步入式环境室在研究和教育中有很多应用。 高地生物站（Highlands Biological Station，HBS：highlandsbiological.org）的两个20世纪80年代的环境控制室一直是真实的工作场所，多年来支持了数百项关于植物和动物的研究，涉及许多研究领域，从行为、生态学、气候变化到发育、遗传学和生理学--特别是对无肺蝾螈的研究，蝾螈是阿巴拉契亚南部森林和溪流中最重要的生态动物群体之一。 除了研究，这些商会还支持课堂演示和学生在哈佛商学院实地课程的研究项目。 然而，这些腔室现在非常过时，管道、布线和模拟控制装置老化，不再可靠地工作，阻碍了研究和其他应用。 该项目将取代和升级这些室的功能，同时扩大容量，增加第三个步入式环境控制室。 我们的目标是扩大能力和扩大容量，以支持在研究，教学，课堂项目，公共项目和演示更广泛的应用。 与精密科学和工业环境控制室的设计和建造领导者合作，该项目需要在旧室的基础上制造和安装3个新室。该设计实现了超过16平方英尺的工作面积和215立方英尺的空调空间的净增益，可靠地提供了精确的温度，相对湿度，光线控制和当今研究人员和教学应用所需的其他功能。 更换室还将增加货架空间，内部电源插座可容纳视频或生长灯等外围设备，以及远程监控功能，以便HBS的工作人员，研究人员，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。