OSU gets NSF grant for research lab

Oregon State University announced Tuesday a $348,000 grant to construct a new GREEN House — an acronym for "Green Research and Education for Ecological Networks" — at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest.

The building will be an energy-efficient residential structure that will also serve as a working laboratory and educational outreach facility. With support from the National Science Foundation, the building will house an expanding community of scientists, writers and educators who work at the experimental forest near Blue River, Ore.

The building will naturally include energy-efficient design, local materials and operated with renewable energy, the facility will have imbedded sensors to monitor such things as the buildings energy consumption, air quality and carbon footprint.

The H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest was established in 1948 by the Forest Service and is managed cooperatively by OSU, the Willamette National Forest and the Pacific Northwest Research Station of the USDA Forest Service.