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The most ambitious building project the College has ever undertaken, the new state-of-the-art complex will enhance scientific inquiry and research on Mount St. James. 
By Laura Porter
Last spring, chemistry major Neal Biddick ’07 traveled to Atlanta to present and discuss his research in natural product synthesis at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society. In company with 12 other students and five faculty members, Biddick welcomed the opportunity to “get out of the classroom and see what everyone else was doing.”
Since the end of his second year at Holy Cross, Biddick has spent his summers—as well as considerable time during the academic year—working in the lab of Assistant Professor Kevin Quinn, where they “make naturally occurring organic molecules.” For Biddick, the project is a logical steppingstone to a future career, perhaps in research science, perhaps in medicine.
But his research, and that of his young colleagues, also reflects the influence of an undergraduate science faculty that teaches its students fundamental science is best explored through the joy of discovery.
“We have a fantastic faculty doing cutting-edge research in a number of fields,” says Professor Jane Van Doren, acting chair of the chemistry department, “exciting students to get interested in science, even if they don’t end up becoming scientists. And we see research as a critical piece of the chemistry major, or of science education.”
Indeed, in terms of both research and curriculum, science education has never been more of a priority at Holy Cross.
It is a priority that reflects a long tradition of scientific excellence at the College. For the past 50 years, graduates and faculty members have been pathbreakers in medicine, biology, neuroscience, psychology, chemistry, physics and mathematics. Alumni include Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Murray, M.D., ’40, who performed the first successful kidney transplant; James A. Shannon, M.D., ’25, the first director of the National Institutes of Health; Harry J. Goett ’31, the first director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; and Joseph P. Kerwin, M.D., ’53, the first physician in space.
More recently, in 2003, Mary Lee S. Ledbetter, professor and chair of the biology department, was named one of five “Distinguished Teaching Scholars” by the National Science Foundation. And, in 2005, Professor Amy Wolfson, professor of psychology, received a $1.07 million grant from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, for her research into children’s sleep cycles and effects on learning and behavior. Holy Cross science departments increasingly receive high rankings among institutions that accept its students for graduate school.
But, in recent years, it has become increasingly clear that the College’s scientific accomplishments have outstripped its physical facilities.
At issue is Haberlin Hall, the locus of the chemistry and physics departments. Built in 1959, Haberlin “was designed for an earlier era of science,” says William Morse, associate dean of the College. At that time, “science was very discrete, and there were very few national guidelines for the safety of workers or containment of chemicals.” Despite a number of renovations over the years, Haberlin is now stretched beyond its capacity; its spatial and technological limitations can no longer support the high caliber science programs contained within its walls.
In the past two years, increasing discussion about science facilities has dovetailed with curricular review and college-wide strategic planning (see “Prior Proper Planning” in the fall issue of HCM). Last spring, the Holy Cross Board of Trustees announced an “integrated science complex” as the most urgent initiative of the College’s Five-Year Strategic Plan. Citing Haberlin as being “in desperate need of modernization,” the report called for “the complete renovation of Haberlin and the creation of a 32,000-35,000 square-foot addition” to create “new opportunities for interdisciplinary science teaching and research and help us to attract the best students and faculty.”
“These things go in cycles,” says Charles “Chick” Weiss, director of grants and foundation and corporate giving and the official coordinator, or shepherd, of the new endeavor. “The $60 million project will be financed by a $30 million bond issue and $5 million from internal reserves,” he says. “The remaining $25 million is being raised through individual, foundation and corporate contributions over the next three years.
Next April, ground will be broken on the first phase of the process: the construction of a state-of-the art building that will serve as the linchpin of the science complex—a four-story structure to be located between Swords and Beaven halls. The new building will house research laboratories for approximately half of the chemistry faculty and provide lecture and laboratory space for the four-semester introductory laboratory sequence and classes. It will take 21 months to build the complex; occupancy is expected in January 2009.
At that time, the second phase of the project will begin: the remodeling of Haberlin Hall. During the projected 11-month construction period, the inside of Haberlin will be gutted and completely rebuilt; nothing will remain of the original except its ivy-covered brick walls. The entire physics and chemistry departments—as well as the upper-level chemistry labs—will occupy the new Haberlin, which is expected to open in January of 2010. Part of the mathematics and computer science department will also move from Swords into Haberlin.
“It is going to be a fabulous facility when it’s done,” says Weiss, describing the intention of the dual-pronged project to provide “state-of-the-art everything.
Investing in Discovery, continued >>>
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