FSML: Planning for the future of the Pymatuning Lab of Ecology

Pymatuning生态学实验室（PLE）位于宾夕法尼亚州西北部的Pymatuning湖上，是匹兹堡大学的野外工作站。PLE 85年来一直是生物学研究和教育场所。在过去的五年里，PLE的设施和资源已经被来自三十多所大学和学院的教育工作者和研究人员使用，产生了许多科学出版物。由于最近在匹兹堡大学与生态相关的研究兴趣的教师，一个短期的需要能够容纳新的研究小组的实验室空间的改造，以及需要扩大住房设施，以适应增长PLE的教育使命，现在是一个合适的时间来规划未来的PLE。该项目将支持制定一个新的总体规划，由PLE的研究，教育，推广和会议利益相关者的投入。拟开展的战略规划活动包括对其他区域外地站进行实地访问，并出席生物外地站组织年度会议，以探讨合作并学习同行外地站的成功经验，主办与利益攸关方的协调会议，讨论每个地方环境保护使命的状况及其改进的机会，制定新的10年总体规划，以指导在未来十年内改善PLE编程和设施的努力。随着PLE进入一个新的增长阶段，这将需要方案的变化，设施的翻新和新的建设，这一规划过程的目标是集中站的有限资源，他们将产生最大的影响，推进PLE的核心任务。欲了解更多信息，请参阅http://www.biology.pitt.edu/facilities/pymatuning.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology (PLE), located on Pymatuning Lake in northwest Pennsylvania, is the University of Pittsburgh's field station. PLE has been a site of research and education in biology for 85 years. PLE's facilities and resources have been used by educators and researchers from over three dozen universities and colleges in the last five years, resulting in numerous scientific publications. Due to a large recent turnover in faculty with ecology-related research interests at the University of Pittsburgh, a near-term need for renovation of lab space capable of accommodating new researcher groups, and a need for the expansion of housing facilities to accommodate growth in PLE's education mission, now is an opportune time to plan for the future of PLE. This project will support the development of a new Master Plan, with input from PLE's research, education, outreach and conference stakeholders. Strategic planning activities to be undertaken include site visits to other regional field stations and attending the annual Organization for Biological Field Stations meeting to explore collaborations and learn from the successes of peer field stations, hosting facilitated meetings with stakeholders to discuss the state of each PLE mission and opportunities for their improvement, and producing a new 10-year Master Plan to guide efforts to improve PLE programming and facilities over the coming decade. As PLE enters a new phase of growth that will necessitate programmatic changes, facilities renovations and new construction, the goal of this planning process is to focus the station's limited resources where they will produce the most impact on advancing PLE's core missions. For more information see http://www.biology.pitt.edu/facilities/pymatuning.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.