UAF biological sciences graduate students have extraordinary opportunities to conduct independent biological research in controlled-experiment or field settings, taking advantage of Arctic, alpine and boreal environments near campus or at remote locations. The department has close connections with the National Science Foundation taiga Long Term Ecological Research site, located about 20 miles from campus. Our students also have access to the tundra LTER site at Toolik Lake, where the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology runs a field station. Facilities available to graduate students on the Fairbanks campus include small mammal colonies, the Large Animal Research Station, both electron and light microscope laboratories, an imaging laboratory and a greenhouse facility. Students and faculty work on systematic collections in the UA Museum of the North using a variety of approaches from traditional morphology to molecular biology.