RMBL gets major grant for nearly $2 million

Will help keep the Lab’s competitive edge

A cutting-edge addition coming to the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory could help with both the short-term and long-term health of the local economy.

A $1.85 million federal stimulus grant was awarded to RMBL on Tuesday, to be used to construct a top-of-the-line 4,800-square-foot research center. After some dirt work this fall, the main construction project will start next summer. The construction will help supply local jobs. The final result will help attract top scientists conducting extended research.
“This is a big deal for us,” said RMBL executive director Ian Billick. “We have received six-figure grants before but nothing close to two million dollars. It was a competitive grant. The stimulus package had $200 million for upgrading scientific facilities and capital projects. We were competing against the top scientific institutions in the country, and we received about 1 percent of the money. It’s a pretty big deal in the scientific world. There are probably about 100 projects that received grant awards of this size.”
The research facility will take the RMBL up a notch. “It will be a cutting-edge facility,” said Billick. “It will be set up to allow scientists to do some things they otherwise wouldn’t be able to do. They will be able to apply very modern techniques at RMBL, comfortably. They do it now, but this will allow them to do research in a full-blown way.
“It will include an 80-below freezer the scientists can use to keep molecules from degrading,” Billick continued. “80-below is cold, even for Gunnison County.”
Congressman John Salazar, who helped acquire the funds, commented on the award. “Funding like this creates jobs, and provides economic development for our local communities,” he said. ”This funding will create jobs through construction and also allow Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory to expand its research operation, housing more scientists for a longer period of time. I will continue to support projects like these; projects that create economic development throughout Colorado’s Third Congressional district.”
Billick agreed. “It will bring money into the local economy during the construction phase.”
“In the long term it helps keeps us competitive,” he explained. “We are sort of like the ski area. We have to compete for scientists, and scientists will see this as an amenity. It will help us keep our competitive edge in attracting field scientists. They choose where they do research. This project will keep us at the forefront, and we will be one of the best places in the world to do high-altitude research.”
Billick said the long-term impacts of the award are huge to everyone. “This new research center will enable RMBL to expand the knowledge base that is critical to managing the healthy ecosystems on which all of our lives depend—clean water, fresh air, and food. What we learn today will have profound implications for future generations, and this investment by American taxpayers in scientific infrastructure will in turn have a tremendous impact on their world.”
According to a press release from the lab, the new center “will fundamentally transform the research that can be conducted by RMBL by making it possible for precise instruments and techniques, such as genetic analysis, microbalance work, stable isotopes and nutrient analysis, to be integrated with field biology.
“This new facility will also serve as a telecommunications hub to facilitate the flow of information between environmental sensors, scientists, and the Internet. It will reduce the cost of conducting field work and will also provide many benefits to students and faculty from teaching colleges because they will be able to learn new research techniques,” the press release continued. “Perhaps most excitingly, this new research center will allow RMBL to extend its research season beyond the traditional 10 weeks that it has offered since inception in 1928.”
The new building will replace a couple of research buildings at the Gothic site. It will be located on the right side of the town-site behind the General Store. Billick said he didn’t think the size of the building would change the perspective of the area. “It will be in an area with two-story buildings and this is a one-story building. With federal money, it would have to be ADA [American with Disabilities Act] compliant and we couldn’t figure out how to run an elevator in January in Gothic. So we have a one-story building with a big footprint. But it will be in front of a hill and around two-story buildings. I’m guessing people won’t really see it driving up the road.”
Billick said the RMBL scientific community is excited about the upgrade but feeling some dread about working around a big construction project next summer. “They are expecting some disruption,” he admitted. “A typical building up here is about 1,000 square feet, so this is close to five times as big. There will be a lot of dirt work. It is a big project for us. But after next summer, they’ll be loving it.”
RMBL was awarded the $1.85 million grant through the National Science Foundation’s Academic Research Infrastructure Program. That is part of the federal government’s Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. If everything goes well, the building should be completed in October 2011.
Go to Facebook and search under The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory to see Murray Lab being moved to make room for the new research facility.