A Specimen Processing Laboratory at Indio Mountains Research Station Headquarters

一个新的干净的实验室（500平方英尺）。将在德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校（UTEP）的印第奥山脉研究站（IMRS）建造。该实验室将专门用于实验室研究活动和储存有系统的当地动物标本。IMRS设施的进一步扩建将增强该站的能力，以容纳和服务生态学和生物学研究、推广和容纳教育学生团体。清洁的建筑对于当今尖端科学项目所要求的活动是必要的。在埃尔帕索地区，IMRS具有教育各级科学研究人员的重要功能，特别是其大量未被充分代表的西班牙裔，这是制定最佳服务于地区社区的项目的关键因素。与新建筑相关的服务将使我们能够扩展我们目前的项目，并为更多对奇瓦瓦沙漠北部感兴趣的研究人员、中学教师和学生、社区学院人员和大学教育团体提供机会，奇瓦瓦沙漠可能是北美研究最少的沙漠之一。位于墨西哥边境和一个大城市地区，现代化的IMRS将成为生态调查和保护实践的主要参与者。奇瓦瓦沙漠很少有地区可以不受限制地进入对实地研究和教育有显著帮助的地方。综合遥感系统为在大多数未受干扰的陆地和水生环境中开展这类活动提供了一个非常需要的场所。这个新的洁净实验室将提高目前研究人员和学生项目的效率。此外，新实验室将提高IMRS更好地为研究人员、教育和外联人员群体服务的能力。UTEP，与IMRS是其主要的实地调查设施，是在科学和技术代表性不足的西班牙裔最重要的教育家。它的入学人数约为2.5万人，其中超过72%的学生是西班牙裔，其中大多数是女性。参与IMRS活动的教师和未来教师将对K-12学生的科学能力产生重大影响，并应增加少数民族学生选择进入高等教育的科学学科的兴趣。新的设施改进将允许UTEP的IMRS服务并提高更多对奇瓦瓦沙漠研究感兴趣的人的能力，提供所需的清洁实验室空间，并满足R1研究型大学的需求。https://www.utep.edu/indio/This奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A new clean laboratory (500 sq. ft.) will be built at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)'s Indio Mountains Research Station (IMRS). This laboratory will be devoted to lab research activities and for storing systematic collections of local fauna. The further expansion of the facilities at IMRS will enhance the station’s ability to house and service ecology and biology research, outreach, and accommodate educational student groups. The clean building is necessary for activities required today by cutting-edge science projects. IMRS has an important function educating persons at all levels of scientific study in the El Paso region, especially its high number of underrepresented Hispanics, which is a key factor when developing programs to best serve the regional community. The services associated with the new building will enable us to expand our present programs and provide opportunities to more researchers, middle school teachers and students, community college personnel, and university level educational groups interested on aspects of the northern Chihuahuan Desert, which is one probably of the least studied deserts in North America. Located next to the Mexican border and a large urban area, a modern IMRS will become a major player in ecological investigations and conservation practices.The Chihuahuan Desert has few areas with unrestricted access to places significantly conductive to field oriented research and education. IMRS provides a much needed venue for conducting those types of activities in mostly undisturbed terrestrial and aquatic environments. This new clean laboratory will improve the efficiency of current researchers and student projects. Additionally, the new laboratory will increase IMRS's ability to better serve groups of researchers, educational, and outreach personnel. UTEP, with IMRS being its major field investigation facility, is a foremost educator of underrepresented Hispanics in science and technology. It's enrollment of about 25,000 include over 72% Hispanic students, with a majority female. Teachers and future teachers involved in IMRS activities will have a big impact on the scientific competence of K-12 students enrolled in their classrooms and should increase interests in minority students electing to go into scientific disciplines at higher educational levels. The new facility improvement will allow UTEP's IMRS to serve and increase the competency of more people interested in Chihuahuan Desert studies by providing needed clean lab space and fulfill the demands of an R1 research university. https://www.utep.edu/indio/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.