{"id":72733,"date":"2016-12-23T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-flc-science-and-engineering-building-will-rocket-us-forward\/"},"modified":"2016-12-23T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-23T19:00:00","slug":"new-flc-science-and-engineering-building-will-rocket-us-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-flc-science-and-engineering-building-will-rocket-us-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"New FLC science and engineering building will \u2018rocket us forward\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cWe\u2019re already producing first-class scientists and first-class engineers here,\u201d said Doug Lyon, professor of management at FLC<\/a>. \u201cAnd they have the communications, leadership-building and collaborative skills from our liberal arts tradition students might not get at (Colorado School of) Mines<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The quality of the education is expected to go up as the new building goes online.<\/p>\n

Workmen are putting on finishing touches, the Air Force is building the telescope for the domed observatory, and professors are awaiting arrival of office furniture, but the shiny hallways and classrooms will bustle when the second semester starts.<\/p>\n

A rare space<\/div>\n

\u201cThere are very few spaces like this in academia in this part of the country,\u201d said professor Gary Gianniny, chairman of the Department of Geosciences<\/a>. \u201cYou see them more in the corporate world. No students can hide, there is no back-of-the-room in this room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two smart classrooms have portable whiteboards, one with a whiteboard circling much of the perimeter, and students will be able to plug in devices \u2013 such as laptops and tablets \u2013 and transmit their calculations to screens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will allow faculty to share different solutions individual (group) tables have developed with the rest of the class,\u201d said professor Ryan Haaland, department chairman of Physics and Engineering<\/a>. \u201cTable 5 is getting the right idea, or maybe to highlight common mistakes. \u201d<\/p>\n

While Fort Lewis isn\u2019t a research university, professors make a point of including students in research, and faculty-student research labs in all the related disciplines will allow more hands-on learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a little step forward, we\u2019re jumping in with both feet,\u201d Gianniny said. \u201cWe\u2019re already group problem-solving, this will rocket us forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fluids lab, the first ready to go, includes a wind tunnel, water flume and the ability to do pressure experiments.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, students will be able to leave experiments set up,\u201d Haaland said. \u201cBefore, we were pushing things out of the way, and something always broke or damaged the experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attention to detail is obvious everywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a place on the base of the chairs to store backpacks,\u201d Ginnany pointed out. \u201cWhen a classroom is full of students, it looks like we\u2019re waiting for a luggage cart at the airport.\u201d<\/p>\n

An aesthetic touch<\/div>\n

Other features in the hall include student study nooks, a break room and specimen storage areas. And, here and there, by the entrances and along hallways, pieces of art, mineral and fossil specimens and historical scientific instruments such as a Foucault pendulum and a sundial provide an aesthetic theme connected to the building\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not only a state-of-the-art building,\u201d FLC President Dene Thomas said. \u201cIt\u2019s an artistic building with the Constellation ceiling, Geologic Wall of Time and the pendulum. It\u2019s science and art together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Constellation ceiling features the Big and Little Dippers, Orion, the Pleiades, Scorpio and Cassiopeia. Courtesy of FLC alumni, it was purposely designed to portray night skies that reflect the traditions and beliefs of area Native American tribes. A nearby monitor will explain the lore as well as give visitors a bird\u2019s-eye view of what\u2019s happening in the different labs in the building.<\/p>\n

Most of the art has a purpose, Gianniny said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s to display the great connect between geosciences and physics, melding the study of our Earth in the context of the universe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in a name?<\/div>\n

While the state paid for most of the building, FLC\u2019s Office of Advancement committed to raising $4.2 million. It has raised about $2.3 million.<\/p>\n

A group of current and former geology professors and alumni are collecting $15,000 to sponsor a rock specimen display cabinet in honor of Frank. O. Bowman Jr., who founded the geology department.<\/p>\n

Alumni Charles Baltzer and Peter M. Mesard will have spaces named after them, while a gift from La Plata Electric Association sponsored a gathering area, a dashboard display where students can monitor the building\u2019s energy production from solar panels and to cover the costs entailed with the application to make the hall Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified.<\/p>\n

P.J. and Tish Barney, a retired geologist and geochemist respectively, wanted to sponsor a hands-on learning tool, and the result is a river table.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a way to see how rivers shape our environment,\u201d Gianniny said. \u201cWe can try putting in a bridge abutment to see what happens, simulate spring runoff, watch how channels move through time, see a delta form.\u201d<\/p>\n

Major Gift Officer Dave Kerns helped the Barneys select the river table as their gift. He went one step further and drove a truck to Boulder to pick it up and bring it back to the college.<\/p>\n

A number of naming opportunities remain, where anything from the domed observatory ($1 million) to an igneous rock slab ($2,500) can carry the donor\u2019s name with the appropriately sized gift.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it will be a lot easier to raise the rest now that donors can actually see the building,\u201d said Mark Jastorff, vice president for advancement.<\/p>\n

Final stage<\/div>\n

\u201cThis is the final stage of our STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) complex, and at 59,000 square feet, it\u2019s the largest building on campus,\u201d Lyon said.<\/p>\n

In addition to the GPE Hall, the college also built a new Chemistry Hall in 2001 for about $9.4 million and a new Biology Hall in 2010 for about $17.2 million. All told, in 2016 dollars, FLC and the state have invested almost $67 million in STEM facilities.<\/p>\n

The investment is expected to draw students pursuing the fastest growing majors on campus. STEM majors have averaged an increase of about 10 percent annually for several years.<\/p>\n

abutler@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

For more information<\/h4>\n

The Fort Lewis College Department of Advancement continues to raise money for the Geosciences, Physics and Engineering Hall. Several naming opportunities remain, including the domed observatory and the main lecture hall. To learn more, call 759-9632.
\n The grand opening for the hall is scheduled for April 7, when attendees can comfortably visit the observatory deck and see outside features such as public art and the sundial.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe\u2019re already producing first-class scientists and first-class engineers here,\u201d said Doug Lyon, professor of management at FLC. \u201cAnd they have the communications, leadership-building and collaborative skills from our liberal arts tradition students might not get at (Colorado School of) Mines.\u201d The quality of the education is expected to go up as the new building goes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[155,132,13,358],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-72733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-education","tag-fort-lewis-college","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-science-and-technology"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72733"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=72733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}