An Imaging Center to support research across multiple scales at the Shannon Point Marine Center

香农角海洋中心（http://www.wwu.edu/spmc）获得支持，将创建一个现场最先进的成像中心，以满足显示、捕获和分析高质量数字图像和视频的迫切需求。在现有研究能力的基础上增加一个成像中心，SPMC的科学家将能够在现有的野外生态学、海洋学、实验生态学、化学/生理生态学和分子生物学框架内更好地解决从亚细胞到有机水平的问题。该中心将允许研究人员充分利用现有的SPMC资源，同时开发新的研究主题，例如海草生态学，无脊椎动物幼虫行为，海洋酸化和分子生态学。该中心将配备三台研究级显微镜（epifluorescence, DIC-capable compound and stereo microscopy），相关相机（单色，彩色和高速视频），成像软件和配套的计算机设备。这种新设备将支持驻地科学家和访问研究人员不断增加的研究活动的广度和复杂性。它还将为SPMC的许多学生研究人员提供培训和研究机会，包括参加nsf支持的REU网站和COSEE实习的本科生，以及海洋科学多元文化倡议：本科生参与（MIMSUP）计划。SPMC还培训当地社区大学的教师，将海洋科学纳入入门课程的课程，影响那些通常不攻读海洋科学或任何学科科学学位的学生。影像中心将在这些团体的培训研讨会以及通过SPMC公共教育体验式学习项目向公众宣传方面发挥重要作用。根据SPMC过去5年的活动，我们预计成像中心每年将有13名全职教职员工和研究人员，20名本科生和15名研究生研究人员，以及每年150名学生和700多名游客中的一部分人在SPMC学习课程，参加研讨会，参加讲座或参观。SPMC成立于1973年，位于华盛顿州的阿纳科特斯，其使命是1)研究普吉特海湾盆地的海洋栖息地和生物资源，2)支持西华盛顿大学和其他一些公共机构提供的本科海洋科学课程，3)在本科生和研究生水平上紧密联系研究和教学，4)通过促进访问科学家的参与，扩大研究和培训的潜力；5)通过积极促进一般人口的海洋知识，并通过有效地将研究成果转化为更广泛的受众，确保研究和培训活动产生更广泛的影响。为了实现这些目标，SPMC参与了一个研究生项目，一个为代表性不足的少数民族学生资助的项目（海洋科学多元文化倡议：本科参与）和其他全国范围的本科项目（REU网站和COSEE项目）。海洋管理委员会工作人员参与西北海峡委员会及其当地海洋资源委员会的工作，促成了研究拟议海洋保护区的新倡议。本地关注的其他课题包括研究大藻和微藻华的动态，以及海洋酸化对浮游植物和商业物种幼虫的影响。学生和来访的科学家可以访问当地的研究地点，包括香农角海滩和附近的帕迪拉湾国家河口研究保护区，这提高了SPMC作为长期过程研究地点的价值，这些研究结果来自于长期积累的数据和香农角配套设施提供的稳定性。

The Shannon Point Marine Center (http://www.wwu.edu/spmc) is awarded support to create an on-site, state-of-the-art Imaging Center, meeting a pressing need to display, capture, and analyze high-quality digital images and video. With the addition of an Imaging Center to existing research capacity, scientists at SPMC will be better able to address questions from subcellular to organismal levels within an existing framework of field ecology, oceanography, experimental ecology, chemical/physiological ecology, and molecular biology. The center will allow researchers to take full advantage of existing SPMC resources while developing new research themes in, for example, seagrass ecology, invertebrate larval behavior, ocean acidification, and molecular ecology. The center will house three research-quality microscopes (epifluorescence, DIC-capable compound and stereo microscopes), associated cameras (monochrome, color and high-speed video), imaging software, and supporting computer equipment. This new equipment will support the increasing breadth and complexity of research activities of resident scientists and visiting researchers. It will also provide opportunities for training and research by a host of student researchers at SPMC, including undergraduates participating in NSF-supported REU Site and COSEE internships, and the Multicultural Initiative in the Marine Sciences: Undergraduate Participation (MIMSUP) program. SPMC also trains faculty from local community colleges to incorporate marine science into the curricula of introductory courses, impacting students who typically do not pursue degrees in marine science or science of any discipline. The Imaging Center will play an important role in training workshops for these groups and in outreach efforts to public audiences through the SPMC Public Education Experiential Learning program. Based on activity at SPMC during the past 5 years, we expect that the Imaging Center will annually benefit up to 13 full-time faculty and staff researchers, 20 undergraduate student and 15 graduate student researchers, and some proportion of the 150 students and 700+ visitors who, each year, spend time at SPMC taking courses, participating in workshops, attending lectures or taking tours.Founded in 1973, and located in Anacortes, Washington, SPMC has as its mandate 1) research on the marine habitats and living resources of the Puget Sound basin, 2) support of undergraduate marine science courses offered by Western Washington University and a number of other public institutions, 3) close articulation between research and instruction at the undergraduate and graduate student levels, 4) expanding the potential for research and training by promoting participation of visiting scientists and 5) assuring broader impact of research and training activities by actively promoting ocean literacy in the general population and by effectively translating research to a broader audience. To fulfill these goals, SPMC participates in a graduate program, an NSF-sponsored program for underrepresented minority students (Multicultural Initiative in the Marine Sciences: Undergraduate Participation) and other undergraduate programs nationwide (REU Site and COSEE programs). The participation by SPMC staff in the work of the Northwest Straits Commission and their local Marine Resource Committees has led to new initiatives to study proposed Marine Protected Areas. Research on other topics of local concern includes studies on the dynamics of macroalgal and microalgal blooms and the impacts of ocean acidification on phytoplankton and on larvae of commercial species. Access by students and visiting scientists to local study sites, including the Shannon Point beach and the nearby Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, enhances the value of SPMC as a location for research on long-term processes that results from the accumulation of data over time and from the stability provided by Shannon Point's supporting facilities.