Newswise — It has labs for everything related to the Great Lakes, from supercomputing to invasive species, spaces designed for everyone from school kids to university researchers.
There’s a weather station on the roof, and just outside, scientists can board the Research Vessel Agassiz and be on Lake Superior in less than an hour.
Plus, the view from its second floor is so spectacular couples are already booking the space for wedding receptions.
It’s the Great Lakes Research Center, or GLRC. The three-story, 50,000-square-foot center has three distinct areas: a boathouse for the University’s three research vessels and environmental monitoring buoy network, a complex of research laboratories, and a public area that includes conference facilities and space for K-12 education.
Seventy-four percent of the funding for the $25.3 million facility was provided by the state of Michigan. The University’s share is 26 percent, or $6.6 million.
Inside are eight laboratories, each tailored for different research topics that relate to the Great Lakes, among them exotic and invasive species, fish ecology, sediments, remote sensing and atmospheric science.
“There’s a supercomputer that will run a hydrodynamic model which can show what the lake may look like in 100 years,” said Mike Abbott, director of the center’s operations.
Computers in the GLRC also receive mountains of data on weather and water conditions from nine buoys posted throughout the Great Lakes. Every 10 minutes, they automatically phone their information to the GLRC computers. One buoy is currently in the boathouse, giving visitors a chance to see what they look like up close.
“Researchers will come and go here; no department calls this space home,” Abbott said. “We will host people from other institutions, and researchers will apply to use space in our labs.” Social scientists will also be part of the GLRC, since the center is expected to be a hub of Great Lakes policy making.
The US Army Corps of Engineers has chosen the new center as its base of research operations for the Great Lakes.
The GLRC includes space dedicated to K-12 science education that will be used by the Western Upper Peninsula Center for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education. And it also has a 90-seat theater and a second-floor Great Room with floor-to-ceiling windows and that wonderful view across the water.
A third-floor balcony space overlooks the Great Room and features a couch and comfortable chairs. From there, you can walk out onto an outdoor room that holds one of the center’s three green roofs. Each is planted with seven varieties of sedum that will minimize rainwater runoff and help cool the building in summer.
In winter, the GLRC will be heated using hot water collected from a heat exchanger newly installed on the University’s main boiler. “The cost of heating this building is no more than the cost of moving water from there to here,” Abbott said.
Overall, the GLRC provides ideal space for scientists studying freshwater systems, both for research and collaboration, said Guy Meadows, director of the Great Lakes Research Initiative housed at the GLRC.
“It’s a very cool building, and the things it will enable us to do will be even cooler,” he said. “Research directed at understanding and preserving all aspects of the Great Lakes is critical to the well being of our neighbors, our nation and the world.”
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