PELLSTON, Mich. — The University of Michigan Biological Station in northern Michigan is investing in the renovation of community spaces.
Starting this spring, the more than 10,000-acre research and teaching campus located about 20 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge will launch several projects including the redesign the interior of the dormitory lounge, parts of Gates Lecture Hall and Alumni Room, the dining hall and director’s cabin.
Those spaces are being reimagined to be brighter and more welcoming and able to be reconfigured to serve large events like the Summer Lecture Series as well as small study and research nooks.
In addition to the community spaces, the scientific field station in Pellston also is adding a new lounge and work area for graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in Stockard Lakeside Lab and a larger classroom for genomics classes due to the growing number of students who want to study the interface of genetics and the environment.
“We are excited to make improvements to enhance the on-campus living and learning experience at our beautiful field station along Douglas Lake,” said Dr. Aimée Classen, director of the U-M Biological Station and a professor in the U-M Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. “Thanks to our generous donors, we are able to respond to what students and researchers have asked for and, at the same time, prepare transitional, flexible spaces that we’ll need when we take the field station to year-round operations.”
Renovations include refreshing the interiors; new, flexible furniture that can be reconfigured; upgraded technology; focused research, collaboration and work areas; updated artwork to honor UMBS history and alumni; and the installation of digital signage to highlight successes.
“Instead of any community space feeling like one big room, we are creating different corners and areas where you can establish a study or research spot and stay there a while or hang out with friends and collaborators. The furniture also can be moved around and transformed to accommodate a class, lecture, research poster presentation or townhall event,” Classen said.
The variety of renovation projects will be staggered throughout the spring and summer to avoid impacting students and researchers.
The dining hall upgrade, for example, will start at the end of the summer — after the busy field season ends.
The new environmental genomics classroom will be completed before students arrive for the start of spring term in May.
The University of Michigan Biological Station has been home to scientific discovery since its founding in 1909. Our core mission is to advance environmental field research, engage students in scientific discovery and provide information needed to understand and sustain ecosystems from local to global scales. In this cross-disciplinary, interactive community, students, faculty and researchers from around the globe come together to learn about and from the natural world and seek solutions to the critical environmental challenges of our time.
