Planning Grant for the Inger and Walter Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University

摘要弗吉尼亚联邦大学英格和沃尔特·赖斯环境生命科学中心的规划拨款在L.Smock博士的指导下，向弗吉尼亚联邦大学授予了一笔赠款，用于制定一项战略计划，以指导该大学新的生物野外站-英格和沃尔特·赖斯环境生命科学中心的项目和基础设施的发展。该场地位于弗吉尼亚州里士满附近的詹姆斯河沿岸，占地约350英亩，支持多种陆地和水生栖息地，将极大地增强VCU的研究能力、大学水平的教学以及面向K-12学生和终身学习者的外展教育计划。这个离里士满市中心只有30分钟车程的实地考察站的设立特别令人兴奋，因为它靠近我们的城市校园，而且它有能力为相对较大的城市和农村人口提供服务，这些学生的代表人数较少。规划补助金的重点是举办一系列讲习班，为中心制定全面的战略计划。一期讲习班的参加者将来自该地区各地的实地考察站，利用他们的经验制定与考察站的行政管理、数据管理以及研究和教育方案有关的计划。第二个研讨会将汇集来自学术和政府机构的研究人员，以发展潜在的研究合作，重点是大河的生态、保护和政策问题，这是赖斯中心拟议的主要研究重点。第三组研讨会将侧重于外展教育，将来自周边学区的合适的K-12教师和管理人员以及潜在的合作组织和机构聚集在一起，为外展项目的发展制定全面的计划。这些活动的结果将是大米中心5-10年的书面战略计划。拟议的活动既有很强的智力价值，又对公众产生了更广泛的影响。在这项规划拨款的指导下，水稻中心的发展将产生一个具有明确方向的野外站，以支持以大河生态为重点的广泛的合作研究活动。在整个地区的大学和K-12课程中，有大量未被充分代表的种族的学生将直接进入赖斯中心的课程。这个外勤站有可能极大地影响整个地区的教学活动，并极大地增加教职员工、大学生、K-12课程和终身学习者的机会。

AbstractPlanning Grant for the Inger and Walter Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityA grant has been awarded to Virginia Commonwealth University under the direction of Dr. L. Smock to develop a strategic plan to guide the development of programs and infrastructure at the University's new biological field station, the Inger and Walter Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences. The site, consisting of about 350 acres of undeveloped land along the James River near Richmond, Virginia, supports a diversity of terrestrial and aquatic habitats that will greatly enhance VCU's research capabilities, university-level instruction, and outreach education programs for K-12 students and life-long learners. Establishment of this field station, which is only 30 minutes from downtown Richmond, is especially exciting because of its proximity to our urban campus and its ability to serve a relatively large urban and rural population of students of underrepresented ethnicity. The focus of the Planning Grant is to hold a series of workshops to develop a comprehensive strategic plan for the Center. Participants of one workshop will be drawn from field stations throughout the region, drawing on their experience to develop plans pertaining to administration, data management, and research and education programs at the station. A second workshop will bring together researchers from academic and government agencies to develop potential research collaborations focused on the ecology, conservation and policy issues of large rivers, this being the proposed primary focus of research at the Rice Center. A third set of workshops will focus on outreach education, bringing together appropriate K-12 teachers and administrators from the surrounding school districts, as well as potential partnering organizations and agencies, to develop a comprehensive plan for the development of outreach programs. The outcome of these activities will be a written 5-10 year strategic plan for the Rice Center.The proposed activities have both strong intellectual merit and broader impacts to the public. Development of the Rice Center, as guided by the outcome of this Planning Grant, will result in a field station with a clear direction toward supporting a wide range of collaborative research activities focused on the ecology of large rivers. The high number of students of underrepresented ethnicities both in universities and K-12 programs throughout the region who will have direct access to programs at the Rice Center is significant. This field station has the potential to greatly impact instructional activities throughout the region and to greatly enhance opportunities for faculty, university-students, K-12 programs and life-long learners.