Departmental
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| Starcher Hall |
The Department of Biology occupies 58,000 sq. ft. in a new four-story building, Starcher Hall. Among the most exciting features of Starcher Hall are its excellent greenhouse and animal care facilities. The three large roof-top greenhouses and the adjacent preparation area occupy more than 6,000 square feet. The prep areas contain, as well, a variety of large and small environmental chambers. The animal care facility includes three rooms for aquatic organisms, two aquatic bird rooms with adjacent outdoor pens, four observation rooms for behavioral study, six animal holding rooms, and three service/maintenance rooms.
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| One of three roof-top greenhouses |
Other departmental research facilities include an herbarium, controlled environmental chambers, vertebrate and invertebrate research museums, tissue culture, common instrumentation and data analysis rooms, molecular biology laboratories, and a darkroom.
In recent years the Department has received numerous grants for research and equipment, such that nearly all of the specialized instruments presently required for our research are available. Notable recent departmental additions include a DNA sequencer and a high-precision (less than one cm) Leica global positioning system. Highly specialized instruments not presently available in Biology have been made available to our graduate students by other nearby facilities such as the Department of Chemistry, the Medical School, the USDA Human Nutrition Laboratory, and the UND Energy Technology Center.
Field Stations
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| Forest River |
The Department operates two field stations for research and class use. The Forest River Biology Area is 40 miles from the campus, and includes habitats suitable for studies in aquatic and woodland biology: spring brook, swamp, moist and dry woods, and a section of the Forest River. The Oakville Prairie Station consists of 200 acres of virgin upland and lowland prairie only 12 miles from campus.
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| Student Research at Oakville Prairie |
Computing
A wide array of computers, software, and peripherals is available for student use at a variety of locations on campus. The Department of Biology supports a Data Analysis Room that houses microcomputers, remote terminals, and a variety of printers. The Data Analysis Room provides complete in-house computing or access to the ever increasing facilities and networks available on campus and around the world. Up-to-date software is available for word processing, data base management, graphics, statistical analyses, and spreadsheets. Current Contents on Disk is available for literature searches of recently published biological journals. Students are eligible for accounts (free for educational purposes) that allow access to mainframe computer facilities and wide variety of networks including the Higher Education Computer Network (HECN), E-MAIL, and INTERNET. These networks allow access to international computer mail, supercomputer facilities, and remote use of library resources at UND's Chester Fritz Library, institutions of higher education in North Dakota, and numerous systems available on Internet. See "The Computer Center" in the graduate catalog for current information on campus-wide computer facilities.
Library
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Chester Fritz Library, which more than doubled its space in 1982, houses the main collection of the University, consisting of about 500,000 bound volumes and large collections of other materials. The University receives more than 1,000 biological journals. |
