Columbia President George Rupp, left, with Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson.

Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson signed a memorandum of understanding with Columbia President George Rupp to establish a framework for developing Columbia's Biosphere 2 Center as a national user facility for earth system science, engineering and education, on Jan. 18. The facility will be available to researchers around the world, providing a unique opportunity to isolate, study, and model ecosystems at a scale of observation currently unavailable to laboratory scientists. The Biosphere 2 Center is located in Oracle, Ariz., just outside of Tucson.

"Columbia's five-year effort to re-engineer the Biosphere 2 Center has created a unique place in the study of the earth," said Richardson. "This agreement will allow the Energy Department to explore the use of the center for education and earth system science and engineering in areas crucial to our mission." The Biosphere 2 Center laboratory is equipped to allow researchers to conduct controlled experiments that imitate regional and global activities, and to replicate ecosystems and their functioning with mass, material and energy balancing measurements. Scientists will be able to better perform the kinds of studies needed to manage ecosystems making them less vulnerable to environmental changes.

Richardson and Rupp and earth universe semester students celebrate Biosphere's latest milestone and growing status

"It is critically important to the future of the Earth that we better understand and begin to solve the major ecological problems confronting us," said Rupp. "We are delighted that the Energy Department has entered into this two-year research partnership with us."

Specifically, under this agreement, the Energy Department and Columbia will develop a science planning framework for the Biosphere Center. This effort will include workshops that will bring together scientists from Columbia, Department of Energy laboratories, and other universities and institutions. The workshops will assess the potential utility of the Biosphere 2 Center for earth system science, define a conceptual design for the Biosphere 2 laboratory, and define experimental protocols for research on global climate change and earth system sustainability.

In addition to providing a focus for research, the Biosphere 2 Center offers semester and summer programs for high school and undergraduate students, and attracts 170,000 visitors annually to its conference center and exhibition.