Facilities

The Arid Lands Information Center (ALIC) employs advanced information technologies to develop decision support resources that help people access, analyze, interpret, and understand observations, models, and research related to resource management in arid and semi-arid regions. These decision support resources take a variety of forms, from online learning modules to complex information analysis and management tools, depending on the specific problems confronting decision makers and their constituents.

Biosphere 2 in nearby Oracle, Arizona is managed by The University of Arizona, and serves as a laboratory for controlled scientific studies, an arena for scientific discovery and discussion, and a far-reaching public education center.

The Natural Products Center (NPC) was set up in 1996 in the former Bioscience Research Facility on Valencia Road. Today NPC is engaged in research on anticancer, anti-HIV, anti-infective, and anti-inflammatory drug discovery from Sonoran desert plants and their associated microorganisms, genetic investigation of natural product biosynthesis in selected microorganisms, commercialization of Hesperaloe fiber, and development of alternate agricultural systems.

Santa Rita Experimental Range (Santa Rita) is a field station uniquely positioned to support research, education, and outreach in the Southwest. Researchers from around the country are drawn to the Santa Rita.

History: Santa Rita is the longest continuously active rangeland research facility and among the 5 oldest biological field stations in the United States.

Most DRU projects are interdisciplinary; collaborating units on campus include Chemical and Environmental Engineering; Soil, Water and Environmental Science; Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering; Hydrology; the Arizona Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants; the UA Water Village, and the Sarver Heart Center.  External collaborators include Northern Arizona University, Colorado School of Mines, Arizona State University, U.S.

The Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed surrounds the historic city of Tombstone in southern Arizona. The USDA - Agricultural Research Service established the watershed in the 1950s to study floods and the impact of soil and water conservation projects on runoff.

V Bar V Ranch near Camp Verde, Arizona is owned and operated by UA's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences as a research and extension center addressing environmental, wildlife and domestic livestock issues applicable to ranches in Arizona and throughout the Southwest.