BY JACK JOHANNESSEN, Staff Reporter
The J8 parking lot south of the Japanese Garden is permanently closed for the construction of Science Phase II, benefitting the Physics and Geology departments.
Andy Piacsek, associate professor and physics department chair, said his departments gave a lot of input into Science II facilities, classroom configurations and equipment.
According to Piacsek, Science II will include classrooms configured for lecture/lab hybrid courses and house an anechoic chamber, which is an echo free room used to study musical instrument and machinery noise. Additionally, a planetarium classroom for astronomy may be added. The ceiling would resemble a dome for projecting constellations.
The geology department had the opportunity to make similar recommendations for Science II’s construction.
“We went back and forth with architects for a year or more,” Carey Gazis, geology department chair, said.
According to Gazis, the geology department will acquire a geo-chemistry classroom, additional computers for accessing and storing online data and storage space for maps. It will also include stream tables, used for studying how a liquid will flow through certain formations and permeameters, used for studying the permeability of soil samples.
The construction of Science II will benefit the whole university.
The physics and geology department are currently located in Lind Hall, on the south end of campus. Lind Hall is outdated for the needs of the physics and geology departments, and was built during the Truman administration, according to Linda Schactler, chief of staff.
A modern building and equipment benefits expanding programs.
According to Piacsek and Gazis, they have both seen their departments expand over the years, increasing the need to enhance the instruction of undergraduate research in both physics and geology. Science II will allow both departments to meet those goals.
Students majoring in either physics or geology are also excited about moving into a modern building.
“It’s great. There will be space for storing samples for geology,” Phil Rush, a junior environmental geology major, said.
According to Ben Freeman, a junior physics major, students in both majors are using “every occupiable space” for classes. He is glad the physics department will move into an updated building.
Lind Hall will be renovated after the physics and geology departments have moved into Science II. Lind will then consolidate different student services into one building. Those services will include student success, TRiO and financial aid, according to Schactler.
The J8 parking lot is being prepared for starting Science II’s construction in the spring.
“Actual work will start in April. It’s probably going to take about twenty-two months to build. So if you consider the bidding and all that, it’s virtually a twenty-four month project,” said Bill Yarwood, director of facilities planning and construction.
According to Yarwood, Science II will be complete and occupied in 2016.
The construction is obstructing walkways between the central and southern parts of campus. Central warned students about the fence on the Service Outages and Closures section on MyCWU.
According to Yarwood, the fence will be pushed back to reopen the diagonal path that connects Walnut Mall and 10th Avenue Mall. This change should happen sometime in April.
