UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station
Dr. Sarah Oktay
Managing Director
180 Polpis Road
Nantucket, MA 02554

Office Phone:
508-228-5268
Lab Phone:
508-228-9475

sarah.oktay@umb.edu

:: Research & Education Programs

An Invitation

a researcher with a net for ticksThe UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station (UMB-NFS), now also known as the Grace Grossman Environmental Center is located on an island of unusual beauty and unique opportunities. Nantucket's physical isolation from the mainland allows for a wide range of genetic, biological, wetland and coastal science, and natural resource protection projects in a relatively closed system. UMB-NFS associated researchers study topics as diverse as the epidemiology of Lyme disease, to the examination of biodiversity shifts following two hundred years of land alterations. The UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station hosts summer and winter interns (K-12 and college age), graduate students, faculty, and researchers from around the world at its facilities. Currently, approximately 25 independent research projects are conducted year round using the facilities.  In addition, The UMB-NFS collaborates extensively with island educational, scientific, and conservation groups including the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, The Nantucket Land Bank, The Nantucket Land Council, and the Maria Mitchell Association to name just a few.

Research Programs

researchers at a Nantucket pond Opportunities exist for faculty, graduate students and undergraduates to participate in current research activities on the Island, both with scientists at the Field Station and also as part of ongoing town projects. Please contact the Managing Director, Dr. Sarah Oktay (sarah.oktay@umb.edu) for more information on intern and volunteer opportunities. Here are numerous examples of research projects conducted either in total or in part at the NFS in the past five years.

Examples of our users include: UMass Boston Department of Africana Studies (Desegregation in 19th century Nantucket and Boston), Harvard School of Public Health (Lyme disease research), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (water quality investigations), and the Williams College/Mystic Seaport Program in Maritime Studies (interdisciplinary education).

A short list of equipment available at the Field Station includes: Spectrophotometers, balances, drying ovens, muffle furnaces, dissecting, compound, and phase contrast microscopes, centrifuges, incubators, microbiological culture equipment, both fresh and salt water aquaria, surveying equipment, pH meters, salinometers, oxygen meters, and a wide range of field gear. Support materials for these instruments are provided including standard laboratory glassware.

A 17-foot Boston Whaler and several smaller boats are available for research purposes.

The UMass Boston's James Bradford Ames Fellowship

The James Bradford Ames fellowship was established by Mrs. Adele Ames to honor the memory of her husband, one of the first African-Americans to graduate from MIT with a degree in chemistry. Ames was a descendant of Paul Cuffe, a successful African-American businessman of the 19th century. The broad purpose of the Ames Fellowship is to support, on a long-term basis, research and publication on all aspects of black and Cape Verdean social life and history in Nantucket. Awards are intended to encourage detailed studies of influential families from the island, people's professions and major occupational activities, the history of slavery and the Cape Verdean presence on Nantucket.

Fellowship research projects may be approached from any discipline or comparative perspective that helps to place the Nantucket and New England experience in broader perspective. Robert Johnson of the Africana studies program (robert.johnson@umb.edu) directs the project, which has a distinguished track record of scholarly research and publication.

The Field Station is open to the public 7 days a week from 9:00 am-dusk. Or you can take a virtual tour of the Nature Trail.

 

Educational Programs

a Nantucket Field Station trail

While some courses are "stand alone" Nantucket courses (e.g. courses on Nantucket), others are currently being developed in concert with existing programs of study and course offerings from the main campus (e.g. a Nantucket component of an existing course).

The UMB-NFS has just received a NSF grant (Field Station Marine Lab program through the Biological Division) for major improvements including high speed internet access, new computers, a large format printer, and advanced scanning and multimedia equipment.

View a list of some of our educational users.

A number of ideas for course development have been proposed: