Syracuse University’s first new science facility since the 1960s opened its doors Aug. 25. It took two years and $107 million to construct.

‘The Life Sciences Complex is the largest, most ambitious academic building in SU history,’ said Robert Enslin, communications manager for The College of Arts and Sciences.

The goal of the new building was to bring together biology and chemistry students in order to understand how the fields overlap – a novel idea for the country and the first time the two have been together at SU, said Jon Zubieta, chemistry department chair and a member of the building’s planning committee.

Zubieta said the chemistry department hopes to make students of biology ‘more aware of what we do as chemists.’

Funding for the project was approved in 2001, after surveys determined that SU needed more space for teaching life sciences.

At the initial planning stages, the building was projected to cost $60 to $70 million, said John Russell, biology department chair and a member of the building’s planning committee. But the building’s amount of laboratory space and technology heightened that number.

‘A building that has laboratories, a research wing and an instructional wing is going to be more expensive than a building that simply has classrooms in it,’ Zubieta said.

A majority of the money used, about $80 to $90 million, came from a university bond. The remaining money was from private donors.

Some faculty members and students seem to agree the money was well spent.

‘This building is, if anything, better than we imagined it would be,’ Russell said. ‘It’s spacious; it’s light; it’s easily accessible. It has lots of public spaces where faculty and students can get together and talk about science and do science.’

Students appreciate the safety features in the science classes, as each has a large fume hood above each workspace, which allows the labs to run more efficiently and safely, Zubieta said.

‘It’s 10 times better,’ said Amanda Kanekuni, a senior biology and psychology major.

Zubieta also said the laboratories are much more ‘user friendly,’ as each laboratory was designed with special uses in mind. For example, the organic chemistry lab was designed specifically for organic chemistry, general chemistry specifically for general chemistry and so on.

But there are a few kinks in the technology.

‘It’s got some great technology,’ said Melody Sweet, an anatomy, physiology and cell physiology professor. ‘But some of it needs a little polishing … The lighting is supposed to be controlled by the computer, and they still haven’t gotten that.’

Kanekuni said the document camera in one of her classes was also not working.

Another problem was that students arrived on campus with no knowledge of the building’s location.

‘The only problem was the first week, people were trying to find it,’ said Bob Stokes, a first year science education graduate student and teaching assistant.

While the building was ready for classes Aug. 25, there are still parts yet to be completed. Final projects include finishing the research labs – putting in cabinetry, shelves and sinks.

The building will be officially dedicated Nov. 7, with a keynote address by genomic researcher J. Craig Venter.

‘I think that having this building is going to make Syracuse University a much stronger teaching and research unit,’ Russell said. ‘The life sciences are the glamour sciences of the 21st century, and we’re sort of competing to get the best faculty and the best students … We couldn’t hope to compete favorably in our old buildings, and now we have as nice a facility as anybody in the country.’

rhkheel@syr.edu

Published on September 2, 2008 at 12:00 pm