Signs of the desired collaborations among the sciences, students and faculty are already evident in the early stages of construction of The University of Scranton’s  unified science center. Also visible are some of the building’s numerous sustainable features.

These themes were touted during a tour of the building by George Gomez, Ph.D., associate professor of biology, and Joseph Dreisbach, Ph.D., interim associate provost for academic affairs, both of whom are members of the unified science center steering committee.

According to Dr. Gomez, the building’s design provides distinctive spaces, or “neighborhoods,” for the University’s departments of biology, chemistry, computing sciences, physics/electrical engineering and mathematics. However, the design also incorporates elements to encourage dialogue and interaction through the use of common areas, glass-walled laboratories, shared instrumentation and designated collaborative laboratory spaces.

“Faculty office areas are designed in units of five with a shared open area for students and small group meetings. Glass walls  - visible from the hall - can be written on for discussions, teaching and learning,” said Dr. Gomez.

Both Dr. Gomez and Dr. Dreisbach believe that much scientific knowledge and learning occurs outside the laboratory through interaction and conversation. To enhance this, the design emphasizes comfort and open and inviting spaces to make the facility not just a destination point for students, but one that they will stay at once they arrive.

The center includes an atrium that spans three stories and includes a first-floor seating area, coffee shop and garden entrance. The first floor also includes a 180-seat lecture hall for symposia and seminars. A faculty meeting room, modeled after the tea room at England’s Oxford University, is on the second floor, near where the 150,000-square-foot new construction will connect to the 50,000 square feet of renovated space in the Harper McGinnis Wing of St. Thomas Hall.

According to Dr. Dreisbach, the center’s design builds on the concept of the Project Kaleidoscope organization, which is an initiative to enhance the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning in the sciences begun by the National Science Foundation and now affiliated with Association of American Colleges and Universities. The center includes 22 class and seminar rooms, 34 laboratories, 80 offices, a rooftop greenhouse for research and a rooftop area for astronomy research and observation.

The unified science center is designed to meet silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. A LEED-certified construction manager is being used for the project. Materials are being supplied from a 500-mile radius, including locally quarried stone for the exterior design that blends the region’s distinctive west mountain stone – seen in many downtown Scranton historic buildings, such as the Lackawanna County Courthouse and City Hall – with granite quarried from the same site as the stone used in 1867 to construct the Scranton Estate on campus.

The design also optimizes the use of natural light.

“You will be able to see a window from any point in the hallway,” said Dr. Gomez, who also pointed out that laboratories have been designed to maximize airflow efficiency and the building’s massive HVAC system will re-circulate already heated or cooled air to save energy.

The unified science center is the largest capital project in The University of Scranton’s history and will serve the entire population of undergraduate students, since all are required to take at least two natural science classes, Dr. Dreisbach said. He also noted that the University expects the new building will further enhance its already stellar reputation for preparing students for careers in medicine, health care and the sciences. Currently, more than 50 percent of the university’s students in sciences, engineering, technology and mathematics already participate in research. Forty-five percent of these students wrote a formal thesis, and 38 percent authored or coauthored a publication and/or conference papers. Of the 428 senior applicants to medical schools over the last 10 years, an average of 80 percent were accepted, well above the national average. According to the 2008 NSF Survey on Earned Doctorates, in 2006 (the most recent year reported), Scranton ranked 9^th out of 568 master’s institutions that reported data for alumni who earned doctoral degrees in life sciences, and 37th of 568 in the physical sciences.

EYP, Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture and Engineering, P.C., designed the unified science center and The Quandel Group Inc. is the construction manager.

The unified science center will open for use in the fall semester of 2011.

The view from the second-floor balcony overlooks of the first-floor seating area, coffee shop and garden entrance of the unified science center’s three-story atrium.

Fitzpatrick Field can be seen in the background of the unified science center rooftop observatory. Standing, from left, are Joseph Dreisbach, Ph.D., interim associate provost for academic affairs, and George Gomez, Ph.D., associate professor of biology, both of whom are members of the unified science center steering committee.

The exterior design of the unified science center blends the region’s distinctive west mountain stone – seen in many downtown Scranton historic buildings, such as the Lackawanna County Courthouse and City Hall – with granite quarried from the same site as the stone used in the Scranton Estate.

Faculty office areas are designed in “neighborhood” units of five with a shared open area for students to facilitate small group meetings and interaction.