First project team meeting

• Each person gave one or two main wishes for project and for building. Most were student-centered
• Use building and its systems for class demos, build in physics and environmental science aspects.
• Science on display
• Include features that draw new students, making it clear that we care about science. Many good students are interested in science, even if they do not major in it. Many who begin by majoring in science (or who feel it is a possibility) go on to become good students in other fields.
• Building should be energy efficient, have natural light, be welcoming, green, and easy to maintain without interrupting classes.
• MUST include disabled access
• building says “science”
• Paulien study – accuracy? Overall campus growth 2% annually, campus has enough classrooms, we need to find out if that is true in these buildings. Labs are underutilized according to study, but that may be due to contention and inflexibility. Need student-faculty research space. Need to think about research scheduling, during summer? All year? Here it’s pretty much all year. Research is growing here, as it is other places. This is an important trend in the natural sciences.
• H&R passed out samples of tools used for program development.
• H&R supplied copy of chemical supply inventory, keep under size needed for “hazardous facility”.
• Chicklet chart
• Space list – program database
• Proof of concept diagrams
• Equipment schedule
• Slider chart (comparison of program with similar colleges)
• H&R noted we can expect 55-58% gross to net square feet.

Meeting with the Physics Department faculty

• The physics department administers a 3-2 program (three years here, two at a graduate school) results in a masters (usually in engineering) – many benefits to students.
• Physics has three full-time faculty, and uses six adjuncts
• Discussed whether we need emeriti offices?
• We have an instrument/electrical/safety office tech, an office/workshop for him is important.
• Research space – 10*10 500Hz anechoic chamber
• Research space for two faculty
• Advanced lab – equipment stays set up for several weeks. One large (~20) and eight small rooms, flexible, two students at a time
• General physics – traditional (lecture up to 40) 20 for lab
• Workshop physics – 3-4 sections at a time, 20 is desirable max
• Observatory – would like to include, but heat rising from this building would interfere, vibration would interfere, would cost a lot.
• The physics department feels it has a good start on their overall list of spaces.

B&G

• Many special systems, maintenance will be (obviously) very important
• Fume hood exhaust
• DI water
• Acid waste
• Emergency power
• Process piping
• Air
• Gas
• Vacuum
• Nitrogen
• Emergency shower
• Eyewash
• Potable vs nonpotable water. Discussion of the possibility of avoiding backflow check valves if potable and non-potable water are divided. The head plumber is pretty emphatic that he still wants backflow protection.
• There was also discussion of the Berea water system’s pressure (low and erratic), its hardness (lots) and its level of included gunk (high).
• Do we need a supplemental fire pump? Probably.
• The electrical vault near Finley is old, needs major work. Any additional electrical service would likely go through that vault and that’s a problem. We need to be aware of this as a likely additional cost.
• Fire reporting system
• Security system. People generally liked keycard system which would allow controlled access on a room-by-room basis. This would allow after-hours access for students and faculty while protecting the equipment and general public from each other.

Development and Administration

• Discussion with Dick Fletcher (development office) and President Collier concerning costs and fundraising. Noted that fundraising now is not particularly good and that we are starting a major capital campaign (in the quiet phase now)
• Discussed some of the costs involved in science building projects. Generally the most expensive (absolutely and per square foot/per student/per credit/per faculty member) on a college campus.
• Construction costs are usually about 75%-80% of the total project cost
• The total Project Cost also includes:
• Fees
• Architectural and Engineering
• Survey
• Soils
• Material testing
• Hazmat
• Site costs
• Furniture
• Scientific apparatus

Discussion with the Mathematics and Computer Science Department faculty

• Need at least 3 dedicated lab spaces which can be used for specific (but changing) classes or projects
• Seminar room for about 20 people
• 8 classrooms, 5*24 station and 3*30 station
• MCS commons
• We’d like to examine incorporating the Learning Center, at least the math tutoring functions. We’d like that to be happening close to the math faculty.
• We discussed having larger faculty offices faculty than the faculty research spaces envisioned for the natural sciences. Faculty opinions were divided. Some liked having the ability to collaborate with students while also being available for office hours, some liked the idea of a shared research space where students working with several faculty members could have several projects going on at once.
• Currently 12 FT faculty
• Expect 2 more FT faculty
• We have about 30 adjuncts who work from time to time about 18-20 each semester. Plan for 6 adjunct offices same size as FT, shared by 3,4,5?, If the offices are the same size, we can convert as needed.

Discussions with Biology Department faculty

• We have to make sure we are consistent in definitions like “full-time faculty”. Some departments use this for adjuncts who teach full time, some only for tenure-track faculty who have advising, service, and all other faculty responsibilities.
• offices
• The department has 12 offices now (8 full-time faculty, 3 adjuncts with private offices (they teach a lot), 1 emeritus)
• We need to add an office for neuroscience and 2 for expansion
• neuroscience support
• research labs
• should allow space for 11 faculty researchers, up to 4950 sq ft
• support facilities
• greenhouse
• headhouse
• growth chambers (2 reach in)
• cold room
• animal facility
• 3-4 holding
• cage wash
• bed/feed
• procedure
• quarantine
• aquarium
• darkroom
• cadavers
• field equipment/mud room
• teaching collections
• rock storage
• herbarium
• animal collection
• map collection
• general and chemical storage
• computer lab with scanner stuff
• library
• showers/changing facilities for mud room and cadaver room
• biology commons
• There was a lot of discussion of lab grouping
• space for student projects
• next time perhaps group by subinterests (greenhouse, animal,…)

Classroom and Technology

o Involved representatives from registrar (room control), IT, media services

o Classroom utilization was discussed. Overall, campus has enough classrooms, but they are often too big for the kind of classes we teach and timing problems prevent them from being used more completely. This is probably true of the Wilker and LES buildings.

o The MCS building is full except for 2:40-6:15pm

o We discussed using wireless computers in the new building. It would increase flexibility in classrooms and labs, allow student collaboration in other spaces, and keep desks clear for other purposes when computers are not needed. There was a question whether power would need to be supplied to tables (which would fix them in place). Experience at other campuses seems to indicate that this would not be needed. The Education division is experimenting with this now.

o We probably need (as a campus) a better place for videoconferencing. Could this be added to this building? How about distance learning spaces for receiving or originating?

o On a related topic, an auditorium space in this facility should include good A/V capabilities, including provisions for cameras so that events and/or classes could be broadcast. The campus now has no such facility but our existing Webcasts are increasingly popular and important for classes and alumni.

o We now have classroom standardization so that faculty can move from building to building and find the same equipment. This must continue in the new building. Campus now has approximately 100 projection systems in classrooms.

o We should investigate Smartboards or equivalent technology. We had one in MCS for a while, but it had to be realigned every time it was used and thus was not used.

o Document cameras were discussed. There is one in MCS used by an adjunct in a wheelchair, and it works well. They also allow print and hand-drawn material. Perhaps these should be included in more places.

o Our campus system has fiber to Wilker and LES buildings from the quad, and fiber runs past these buildings to the Sprout houses.

o Security cameras will be important, especially for lab areas.

Discussions with the Chemistry Department faculty

• Offices
• Five FT faculty now, plan for a 6^th in future
• Need two adjunct offices
• There is a stockroom technician who maintains and orders supplies, so we need an office for Stockroom admininstration
• Allocate research labs for 6, total 2600 asf
• Support
• Some members are adamantly against shared stockrooms for budgetary and philosophical reasons
• Labs
• Gen chem. 2x24 station, hoods?
• Organic 1x20 10x8’hoods
• Biochem 1x24
• Instrumental 1x16
• Prep room
• Physical chem. 1x16 shared with physics? Biochem?
• Inorganic 1x16
• Quantitative analysis 1x24
• Project labs (same as faculty research lab)
• Lab support spaces
• Prep rooms
• Stockroom
• Hazardous waste
• Balance room
• Classrooms
• 1 gen chem. 3sections/semester
• most classes under 20
• biochem ~30
• 2 classrooms 36-40 for non-majors (5 classes/semester)
• seminar 8-16
• chem. Commons
• library – in favor of shared science library
• computer area – current area is very busy. Needs space with chemistry-specific software and probably Macs, so this is likely to be searate from computer science or general campus labs.

Wrapup project team meeting

• Summary discussions of:
• adminstration
• computer labs
• library
• animals
• classrooms
• B&G would REALLY prefer as little roof-mount as possible – it’s awkward and dangerous in this climate.
• homework for next time
• start on chemical quantity and equipment lists
• think about opportunities to share
• subgroups we may need to form
• administrative
• library
• animal (with neuroscience)
• Next time kickoff – H&R will show pictures of other projects
• We will start matching new and old spaces and should see a very rough project budget