Facilities

Location

It's easy to fall in love with the landscape of northeast Iowa, especially as a biologist.

Because Luther College sits at the border between the eastern forests and tallgrass prairies, the area immediately around campus supports diverse biological communities. The most recent glaciers missed our part of Iowa, so the topography here is rugged with deep river valleys, limestone bluffs, and steep hillside prairies.

Luther students can observe rates of beetle colonization of restored prairies, analyze the effects of land use on macro-invertebrate communities of the Upper Iowa river, or study the effect of herbivores on spring wildflowers in oak-hickory forests – all while still on the 800-acre campus.

Laboratory Facilities

Opened in Fall 2008, Sampson Hoffland Laboratories provides state-of-the-art facilities for the biology and chemistry departments. The 64,000-square-foot building, located adjacent to the east wing of the Valders Hall of Science, boasts a range of "green" features. The facilities contain 17 teaching labs which connect to faculty-student research areas, lab and research support/storage areas, 21 faculty offices, more than 4,800 square feet of study area, and space for collaborative student-faculty research projects.

The biology department provides excellent facilities for student research. Students can search for developmental mutants in the greenhouse, analyze hormone levels of athletes to assess the effects of training, and investigate biofilm formation in bacteria using a scanning laser confocal microscope.