Nearly $4.7 million in federal stimulus money will be used to continue the conversion of the former naval base in Winter Harbor into an educational research facility for natural sciences.

The U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service award is designated for road work and to remodel three buildings into classrooms and laboratories for the Schoodic Education Research Center in Acadia National Park, according to a joint statement from Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. The center, part of a network of national park research learning centers, will offer a combination of natural science research and field work.

The national park took over the naval base in 2002. The award compresses 10 years' worth of work into two, Len Bobinchok, deputy superintendent at Acadia National Park, told the Bangor Daily News. He told the paper he expects the bulk of the work will be done this summer.