The Galapagos Science Center is a partnership between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador. The GSC was dedicated in May 2011 by delegations from both campuses, led by their respective Chancellors and a distinguished group of faculty and administrators. The GSC is dedicated to research, education, and community outreach and engagement with a focus on population, health, and environment as social, terrestrial, and marine sub-systems are examined, including their linked or integrative effects. The Center is a 20,000 square feet facility comprised of four laboratories (Microbiology & Genetics, Marine Ecology, Terrestrial Ecology, and Spatial Analysis & Modeling), faculty, staff and student offices, conference room, community classroom, outside terraces for teaching and physical experiments, and a sophisticated IT system. With a full-time staff of 14 professionals, the GSC supports research by UNC and USFQ scientists as well as collaborators from around the globe.
Carlos Mena, a 2007 PhD graduate of UNC Geography, and Steve Walsh are Co-Directors of the Galapagos Science Center, representing USFQ and UNC respectively. Professors Walsh and Mena developed the Galapagos Initiative that created the vision and mechanisms for the development of the Galapagos Science Center, located on San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos Archipelago of Ecuador.
UNC GALAPAGOS SCIENCE CENTER_Overview_12-20-13
