Upgrading Middlebury College's Floating Laboratory: A State-of-the-Art Research Vessel

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。这个项目取代了R/V Baldwin，一个漂浮的研究实验室，被佛蒙特州明德学院用来在尚普兰湖上对学生进行实践、体验和研究训练。R/V Baldwin号已经到了使用寿命，将被一艘更大、性能更强、“绿色”、适航的新船所取代，这艘船的装备可以让大学生和教师进行研究项目。明德学院是一所本科院校，被广泛认为是教育和培训本科生继续攻读环境科学研究生院的重要引擎。这艘新船将使船上的人数在任何时候都能增加一倍。与目前只能在湖泊浅水区航行的船只不同，新船将能够在湖泊中完全航行，这将大大增加可进行的研究项目的种类和数量。这艘新船将影响地质学、生物学、环境科学和化学等不同学科的研究，使水动力学、古人类学、古气候、沉积学、地球物理学、水生生态学和环境化学等不同领域的研究成为可能。该项目更广泛的影响包括增加跨学科科学的基础设施，以及在米德尔伯里学院和佛蒙特州其他当地学院和大学的大量本科生的研究培训，这是EPSCoR州。它还将为建造该船的华盛顿州提供就业机会。其他影响包括改善对全国第六大淡水湖的环境评估和监测；它满足了美国东北部许多人的娱乐和经济需求。将对使用该船的K-12教师进行研究培训。通过与当地海事博物馆的合作，利用研究人员使用该船收集的数据进行公众宣传。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This project replaces the R/V Baldwin, a floating research laboratory used by Middlebury College in Vermont for hands-on, experiential, research training of students on Lake Champlain. The R/V Baldwin has reached the end of its useful life and will be replaced by a new, larger, more highly capable, "green", and seaworthy vessel outfitted to allow college student and faculty research projects to be carried out. Middlebury College is an undergraduate institution that is widely considered as an important engine for educating and training undergraduates who continue on to graduate school in the environmental sciences. The new vessel will double the number of people that can be present on the boat at any given time. Unlike the present vessel, which is restricted to shallow parts of the lake, the new ship will be able to fully navigate the lake, which will dramatically increase the types and numbers of research projects that can be carried out. The new vessel will impact research in disciplines as diverse as geology, biology, environmental science, and chemistry, enabling research in areas as diverse as hydrodynamics, paleoanthropology, paleoclimate, sedimentology, geophysics, aquatic ecology, and environmental chemistry. Broader impacts of the project include increasing the infrastructure for interdisciplinary science and the research training of large numbers of undergraduate students at Middlebury College and other local colleges and universities in Vermont, which is an EPSCoR state. It will also provide jobs in Washington State where the ship will be built. Other impacts include improved environmental assessment and monitoring of the 6th largest freshwater lake in the nation; one that serves the recreational and economic needs of a large number of people in the northeastern US. Research training of K-12 teachers who will use the vessel will be implemented. Public outreach using data collected by researchers using the vessel will be carried out through involvement with local maritime museums.