Our Facilities

The Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI) is housed in the Countess Alicia Spaulding-Paolozzi Environmental Science and Education Center (Paolozzi Center), a $2.5 million facility that Paul Smith’s College opened in 2010, made possible through a generous lead gift from the Spaulding-Paolozzi Foundation. The Paolozzi Center is a LEED certified green building, and is the second building in the Adirondack Park to receive this designation. The facility has a conference room that seats 24 people and is equipped with a podium computer and HD projector. The ground floor of the Paolozzi Center houses a state-of-the-art laboratory that supports the research and monitoring work of AWI, as well as other research, student capstone projects, and courses. The centerpiece of the laboratory is a suite of instruments purchased with an NSF MRI award (award no. 0722927). These instruments include a Varian 720ES inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrophotometer, a Shimadzu TOC-VPN total carbon and nitrogen analyzer, a Lachat QC8500 flow injection analyzer plus ion chromatograph, and a Varian GC 450 gas chromatograph with dual electron capture detectors. Together these instruments provide a broad range of analytical capability and are used regularly by the AWI for monitoring acid and base cations, heavy metals such as mercury, anions such as chloride, total nitrogen and carbon, and pesticides. The laboratory also has two UV/Vis spectrophotometers, a microplate reader, two quartz crystal microbalances, thermocycler, and a mass spectrometer. The laboratory is further equipped with all of the additional instrumentation necessary to conduct analytical work in support of environmental research (e.g. Type I and II water system, fume hoods, precision and analytical balances, pH and conductivity meters, ovens, centrifuge, tissue grinder, autoclave, etc.). In addition to housing a wet lab, balance room, labware cleaning and storage room, and instrument room, the laboratory also has a room called the flexible research space wherein special projects can be set up and conducted. The AWI also has several field instruments that can be used to support work in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems: such as a LiCor 6400 portable photosynthesis system with soil respiration chamber (purchased under the NSF MRI grant), several multiparameter field meters (pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, temperature), soil and plant sampling equipment, aquatic plant and water collection equipment, and a fleet of motorized and non-motorized watercraft.