The Department of Biology occupies 58,000 sq. ft. in a four-story building, Starcher Hall. Starcher Hall houses classrooms, museums, offices, and research laboratories. 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 a variety of large and small environmental chambers. The animal care facility includes rooms for aquatic organisms, aquatic bird rooms, observation rooms for behavioral study, a number of rooms for holding small mammals and birds, and three service/maintenance rooms.
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One of three roof-top greenhouses
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Other departmental research facilities include an herbarium, controlled environmental chambers, vertebrate and invertebrate research museums, tissue culture, common instrumentation and data analysis rooms, and molecular biology laboratories.
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 UVP Autochemi Gel documentation system, Microm HM550 Cryostat, Real Time PCR System, automated DNA sequencer, Fluoview Confocal Microscope, Microbrightfield Instruments design-based Stereology System 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
The mission of the Biology Field Stations is to provide relatively-unaltered model ecosystems for education and research. Collectively, the Biology Field Stations offer many of the major ecosystem types available in the region, including wetlands, prairies, riparian woodlands, and streams. The Department operates two field stations for research and class use.
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Forest River |
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. Several classes use this site for field trips and for aquatic research.
The Oakville Prairie Field Station consists of over 900 acres of virgin upland and lowland prairie located 12 miles from campus.
Oakville Prairie offers rare native tall-grass prairie and saline seeps. Glacial Lake Agassiz receded from the site approximately 9,300 years ago, leaving a series of beach ridges. These ridges have mostly disappeared, but two of the Ojata Beach Ridges remain on the Oakville site along with 8 Saline Seeps (another geological feature not common elsewhere).
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Student Research at Oakville Prairie
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Computing
A wide array of computers, software, and peripherals is available for use at a variety of locations on campus. The Department of Biology supports a Data Analysis Room that houses microcomputers, software and peripherals. 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 analysis, and spreadsheets. Students, faculty, and staff all have access to broadband accounts (free for educational purposes) that allow access to e-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. Visit the computer center web page for more information on available resources.
The Computer Center makes available for modest fees, site licenses for a wide variety of software including GIS, statistical, and office software. UND also has available for research use a high performance cumputing cluster at the UND computational research center.
Library
The University of North Dakota has the largest research library system in the state offering a wide variety of research tools. The Chester Fritz Library together with the Harley E. French Library of the Health Sciences and the Thormodsgard Law Library contain over 2 million volumes and offer access to thousands of online resources . Three branch libraries: the Energy and Environmental Research Library, the F.D Holland Geology Library and the Gordon Erickson Music Library provide focused services for subject collections.
The University's Libraries participate in ODIN, the On-Line Dakota Information Network , whose members include the academic libraries, major public libraries and many public school libraries in the state. ODIN provides statewide library networking and computer support services. The Libraries also network with other research libraries around the world, providing the latest in scholarly research through interlibrary loan agreements. UND's Libraries offer computer workstations, modern study areas and consulting services at each of their facilities. Information about the Chester Fritz Library and its resources is found at http://www.library.und.edu |
