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Special Academic Services, Programs and Facilities
Ecotoxicology and Water Quality Research Laboratory (EWQRL) The Ecotoxicology and Water Quality Research Laboratory (EWQRL) is located in Life Sciences West and is part of the Integrative Biology Department at OSU. Established in the 1960s as the Reservoir Research Center, in 2001, the lab changed names to reflect not only our expertise in standardized aquatic toxicity testing but also additional research foci in aquatic ecosystem assessments. The EWQRL provides services to a number of companies and wastewater treatment facilities throughout Oklahoma, in the form of EPA standardized bioassays. In addition, the staff and students (both graduate and undergraduate) funded by the EWQRL, undertake aquatic monitoring projects in riverine, wetland and reservoir systems for both state and federal agencies. These projects include invertebrate and fish surveys and identification, zebra mussel monitoring, wetland delineation and toxicity assessments. The labs facilities include a fathead minnow rearing room, temperature and light controlled environmental chambers for in-house cultures of aquatic test organisms (cladocerans, amphipods and midges) and standardized toxicity testing of client produced water, a wet chemistry laboratory, computer laboratory, and numerous compound and dissecting microscopes all with digital imaging capabilities. Sampling equipment for field surveys includes a boat, electroshockers, nets, drift fences and several field meters. Engagement Skills Trainer (EST 2000) The EST provides initial and sustainment marksmanship training, static unit collective gunnery and tactical training, and shoot/don’t shoot training. It supports the following three modes of training: marksmanship, squad/fire team collective and judgmental use of force. The system models M4/M16A2 rifles and is deployable with its own system shelter. All EST training scenarios are U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) validated. Cadets at OSU will spend up to six to nine hours per semester using the EST, focused on grouping, zeroing, basic qualification, and advanced marksmanship techniques. The system represents the cutting edge of technology in marksmanship training across the globe. Herbarium The OSU Herbarium houses the university’s collection of plant specimens. It is located in Life Sciences East, Room 012, and is maintained by the Department of Botany. The collection consists primarily of over 150,000 specimens of vascular and non-vascular plants that are dried, mounted on archival paper or placed in packets, and stored in cabinets. There are nearly 50,000 specimens that document the flora of the state of Oklahoma, the second largest such collection in the world. The remaining specimens were collected throughout the world, with strong representation of the Great Plains region and Texas. A particularly significant collection of specimens was made throughout Mexico in the 1960s and 1970s by former curator, Dr. U.T. Waterfall. Other large collections represent the countries of Canada, Colombia, and Ethiopia. Data on these collections can be accessed on the internet through the Oklahoma Vascular Plant Database (OVPD: www.oklahomaplantdatabase.org (http:// www.oklahomaplantdatabase.org)); Global Plants (plants.jstor.org (http://plants.jstor.org)); and other repositories and aggregators. Over 225 specimens are taxonomic “types” that are the reference material that form the basis for scientific names of these plant species. The Herbarium is known by its Index Herbariorum code, OKLA. The collection is used extensively by OSU researchers, students, land managers, government agencies, and members of the general public interested in
plant identification, plant distributions, and ecology. The Herbarium also provides specimen loans to researchers at accredited institutions around the world. Herbarium staff assist with identifications and on specimen based information on request; requests from for-profit interests may be charged for this service. M. B. Seretean Center for the Performing Arts The M.B. Seretean Center for the Performing Arts provides a home for the Michael and Anne Greenwood School of Music and the Department of Theatre at OSU. Constructed in 1970 at a cost of three million dollars and named in honor of its principal benefactor, M.B. “Bud” Seretean, a 1947 OSU graduate, the Center is the focal point of all major theatrical and musical events on the OSU campus. The Seretean Center includes an 800-seat Concert Hall and the 600-seat Vivia Locke Theatre, which attract a myriad of fine arts activities such as ballet, concerts, opera, plays, musicals, faculty and student recitals, and a host of summer conventions and camps. In addition to the auditorium and theatre, the Seretean Center houses teaching studios for music and theatre faculty, a variety of classrooms, a specially-designed choral room, a rehearsal hall for band and orchestra, a scene shop for the theatre, computer labs, and a well-equipped audio center, all designed to provide an excellent atmosphere for the teaching of the fine arts at OSU. Theatre Live theatre productions are an important part of the cultural life of the campus. The OSU Theatre Department produces six to eight plays each academic year from a wide variety of dramatic and musical theatre literature. Two separate production series are offered. Each year, three to four fully-mounted large-scale productions are presented in the 600-seat Vivia Locke Theatre. Two to four experimental productions, often student- directed and designed, are presented in the 100-seat Jerry L. Davis Studio Theatre. Each production’s cast and crew is comprised of theatre majors and minors as well as non-majors from across the campus. Auditions are open to all students on campus regardless of major. OSU Libraries The OSU Library system consists of the Edmon Low Library at the heart of campus and three specialized branch libraries (the Education and Teaching Library in Willard, the Architecture Library in the Architecture Building and the Veterinary Health Sciences Library in McElroy Hall). The Edmon Low Library is open 24 hours/5 days per week during the fall and spring semesters with limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. The Library’s six floors offer individual study spaces designated as either silent (no talking) or whisper (talking softly permitted) or group. There are 21 private study rooms that can be reserved online. Desktop computers located on the first and fifth floors provide access to the Internet, MS Office, BOSS (a search system of all Library resources) and other electronic library resources. The Library also provides laptops, MacBook Pros and Microsoft Surfaces as well as audio recorders, digital video and still cameras, projectors, telescopes and phone chargers for checkout. Many Library resources are available remotely 24/7 via the Library’s website (www.library.okstate.edu (http://www.library.okstate.edu)). Here you may renew books you have checked out or determine whether a book you need is available for checkout; search the listing of more than 200 specialized databases; connect to more than 60,000 online full-text journals; and access online course reserves. If there is an article or book
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