By Marley Malenfant/se news editor
The SE Campus three-story Science Building will be open to students and faculty in January.
The facility will have more than 30 classrooms along with offices and study areas for students and faculty. A bistro and computer labs will also be featured in the building.
Turner Construction Company hopes to earn a high certification from the Land Environment Economics and Development government program.
LEED is acknowledged for pushing a green certification system that examines buildings and designs to improve the environment and the community.
Turner superintendant Steve Bass said the SE building may earn a high certification.
“Hopefully, it will be a silver LEED’s building, which is one step below as high as you can go,” he said.
Bass said some of the building is made from recycled metal, concrete, drywall and sheetrock.
It will have low-emission parking for hybrid-like vehicles and additional handicap parking on the west side of the building.
“The roof has these white rocks that reflect the heat that help keep the building cool,” he said. “It’s a gold LEED’s prospect. Recycle everything that can be recycled.”
SE assistant professor of geology Christina Baack said the building would grant students more options. She said a meteorology course would begin in the fall.
“We’re getting more equipment,” she said. “Instead of 15 microscopes for 30 students, we now have 30 microscopes for 30 students. We can offer more classes at different times. Nobody wants to be here at 7 in the morning. Nobody!”
SE professor of biology Hung Vu said the building could now match the high demand of science courses.
“We have thousands of students come here to take science classes, and we don’t have enough space,” he said.
“The first floor will be for geology, the second floor for computer science, and we’ll have chemistry on the third floor. This now opens things up for the students and faculty,” Vu said.
SE student Allison Barkman expects the Science Building to have more space to work during lab sessions.
“The [current] classes are a little small. They remind me of my junior high classes,” she said. “There are 25 to 30 people in the lab. The desks are too high, so I have to sit up to look through the microscope. It’s uncomfortable.”
