NSF-CAPACITY FIELD STATIONS: EXPANDING WALK-IN ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL CHAMBER CAPACITY AND FUNCTIONALITY AT HIGHLANDS BIOLOGICAL STATION

可精确控制温度、相对湿度和光线的步入式环境房间在研究和教育中有着广泛的应用。高地生物站的两个20世纪80年代的环境控制室(HBS：Highlandsbiological.org)一直是真正的工作人员，多年来支持了从行为、生态学和气候变化到发育、遗传学和生理学等多个研究领域的数百项动植物研究，特别是与无肺火蜥蜴的研究，后者是阿巴拉契亚山脉南部森林和溪流中最重要的生态动物群体之一。除了研究，这些研究室还支持哈佛商学院实地课程的班级演示和学生研究项目。然而，这些房间现在非常陈旧，老化的管道、布线和模拟控制不再可靠地发挥作用，阻碍了研究和其他应用。该项目将替换和升级这些房间的功能，同时还将扩大容量，增加第三个步入式环境控制室。目标是扩展功能和扩展容量，以便在研究、教学、班级项目、公共项目和演示中支持更广泛的应用。与设计和建造精密科学和工业环境控制室的领导者合作，该项目需要在旧的基础上制造和安装3个新的控制室。该设计实现了超过16平方英尺的工作面积和215立方英尺的调节空间，可靠地提供了当今研究人员和教学应用所需的精确温度、相对湿度、光线控制和其他功能。更换房间还将增加货架空间和内部电源插座，以容纳视频或生长灯等外围设备，以及远程监控功能，以便HBS工作人员、研究人员和教师可以通过移动设备或桌面连续监控房间状况。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Walk-in environmental rooms that provide precision control of temperature, relative humidity, and light have a great many applications in research and education. The twin 1980s-era environmental control chambers at Highlands Biological Station (HBS: highlandsbiological.org) have been real work-horses, supporting hundreds of studies on plants and animals over the years in many research areas, from behavior, ecology, and climate change to development, genetics, and physiology — especially work with lungless salamanders, one of the most ecologically important animal groups in southern Appalachian forests and streams. In addition to research, these chambers have also supported class demonstrations and student research projects in HBS field courses. The chambers are now very dated, however, with aging plumbing, wiring, and analog controls that no longer function reliably, hampering research and other applications. This project will replace and upgrade the functionality of these chambers while also expanding capacity, adding a third walk-in environmental control room. The goal is both expanded capabilities and expanded capacity in order to support a broader range of applications in research, teaching, class projects, public programs, and demonstrations. Working with leaders in the design and construction of precision scientific and industrial environmental control rooms, this project entails fabricating and installing 3 new chambers on the footprint of the old ones. The design realizes a net gain of over 16 square feet of working area and 215 cubic feet of conditioned space, reliably providing the precision temperature, relative humidity, light control and other capabilities needed by today's researchers and for instructional applications. The replacement chambers will also feature increased shelf space with interior electrical outlets to accommodate peripheral equipment such as video or grow lights, as well as remote-monitoring functionality so that HBS staff, researchers, and instructors can monitor chamber conditions via mobile device or desktop on a continuous basis.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.