After over two years of construction, Central Washington University’s new science building is nearly ready for operation.

Science Phase II has finished construction and is on track to open this fall for the new school year. The building will be equipped with new classrooms and facilities for CWU’s physics and geology departments, which are outgrowing their current spaces in Lind Hall.

“These are two of our high-demand science programs, so those students and faculty have something exciting to look forward to,” said CWU President James Gaudino in a press release.

The new building will provide larger classrooms and additional unique facilities on campus for physics and geology.

“The new building will give us access to modern classrooms, laboratories, and instrumentation,” said Carey Gazis, geology department chair. “We will be able to teach in different ways than we have been and there will be new directions that we can go with our research.”

One of the unique facilities is an anechoic chamber, a room in which the ceiling, floor and walls are lined with sound-absorbent foam that minimizes sound reflection.

The room has its own foundation, project manager Joanne Hillemann said, which removes potential interference from footsteps. The physics department will use the chamber to test sensitive equipment and instruments.

Additionally, the new building will host a new planetarium that is tied with the Bechtel National Planetarium at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, Washington for the largest in the state, Hillemann said.

The planetarium will seat 80 people and doubles as a lecture room. According to Hillemann, there will be planetarium shows open to students once it is operational.

Students will even be able to make their own planetarium presentations with the free software, Worldwide Telescope. This allows students to work with professors in class on shows, Hillemann said.

The building also hosts an observatory tower that will be equipped with a research-grade telescope. According to Hillemann, the observatory will be open to the public as long as they’re accompanied by a faculty or staff member.

Additionally, the roof has concrete pedestals equipped with power and data for smaller telescopes.

Construction of Science Phase II began on May, 1, 2014, and the project costs around $64 million, according to Hillemann.

The building was designed with faculty and students in mind so it is much more accessible than the other science buildings.

Hillemann said, faculty are currently condensed into one area in their respective halls, while Science II will spread them out and allow them to pick the offices they want.

“One of the benefits of doing this is the professors can have offices closer to the labs they work in,” Hillemann said, “they can select an office based on where they do their work.”

Construction has finished and foot-traffic has opened up next to the building.

CWU facilities staff are currently testing the building’s audio and video systems and the project is currently in the “move-in” phase, Hillemann said.

Over the summer, most faculty offices, labs and equipment will be moved from their current locations in various buildings around campus. According to Hillemann, the move will require a lot of time and work.

“It didn’t make sense to move the faculty in the middle of the quarter,” she said. “If they’re teaching, it’s too much to ask that they pack up their whole office.”