Credit: Allen Jones and Kevin Morley, Enterprise Marketing and Communications
Walking through the Franklin Street entrance of Virginia Commonwealth University’s new STEM building, visitors are greeted by a monumental staircase rising alongside a two-story illuminated glass display of colorful images representing the scientific fields that will soon be taught in the building, including anthropology, biology, chemistry, forensic science, kinesiology and health sciences, math, physics, psychology and more.
VCU held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in April for the 168,000-square-foot, six-floor building dedicated to STEM.
“I always say, we’re here to meet the needs of students and patients. This is a six-story version of how we will meet the needs and put the needs of students first,” said VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., who described how the STEM building has been among his top priorities since he came to VCU in 2009.
The STEM building expands lab, classroom and office space for the College of Humanities and Sciences, which is home to 17 departments, two schools and three programs. Nearly 60% of VCU undergraduate students are enrolled in the college.
“The College of Humanities and Sciences’ STEM Building will be the center of instruction, collaboration and discovery for the sciences and mathematics at VCU,” said Catherine Ingrassia, Ph.D., interim dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences. “It will serve the vast majority of undergraduates when they take the introductory and early level classes in their majors, and it will also provide space for upper-level laboratory courses.”
The building features 32 teaching labs; the Math Exchange, an innovative facility for math instruction; a Science Hub for student/faculty interaction, study groups and specialized support for STEM classes; two 250-seat, team-based learning classrooms; computer labs; and large- and small-capacity flexible classrooms. Instructional wet and dry labs are included in addition to classrooms for STEM subjects.
The building provides classroom and study space for more than 10,000 students who will take up to 70 courses in the building each semester, beginning in fall 2023. And it offers a common space for VCU students taking gateway and upper-level courses in anthropology, biology, chemistry, forensic science, kinesiology, mathematics, physics and psychology.
“This building is built for 21st-century students,” Ingrassia said. “In this new building, our students will learn, discover and innovate. They will develop into the next generation of scientists, researchers, medical professionals and educators.”
The facility is built to foster the connections and collaborations that are essential to success and interdisciplinary work, she said.
“Just imagine a biology student teaming up with a math major to study work through data from an experiment, which is going to lead to the development of a theoretical mathematical model. That’s going to happen here,” she said. “Or a physics student and a chemistry student who will work together for an energy solution that later involves hands-on learnings with one of our faculty labs. That'll happen here. Or a forensic science student and a biology student working with an anthropology major to consider the history and study of humans as biological organisms. That will happen here.”
The student experience ‘front and center’
The STEM building supports the College of Humanities and Sciences’ continued work to provide an innovative sciences curriculum that is seamlessly integrated with research, effectively preparing VCU graduates to understand and solve contemporary problems. The building also will be where growing talents are nurtured and foundational laboratory skills are taught, and where faculty will mentor and train tomorrow’s science leaders.
“A lot of times in universities, our goal is to break down silos. This building very tangibly breaks down silos,” said Sally Hunnicutt, Ph.D., associate dean for faculty and academic affairs (science and mathematics) in the College of Humanities and Sciences, who has overseen the project. “In a very real sense, this building is designed to put the VCU student experience front and center. We are providing them with a brand new, state-of-the-art space in which they will begin the practice of science and math and learning in general.”
From top to bottom, the building was designed with input from VCU faculty to incorporate elements that encourage collaboration and facilitate the best ways to teach and learn, Hunnicutt said.
“The words that come to my mind about this building are community and connection,” she said. “It’s right in the center of campus. It’s deliberately designed to have students walk through the front door and go out the back to the dining hall. And when you’re in there and seeing [the learning and research] that’s happening, our students might find themselves getting interested in it as a result.”
Funding for the approximately $125 million project was provided by the commonwealth of Virginia in 2019. The building was designed by Ballinger and Quinn Evans Architects and constructed by Hourigan.
Construction was not funded by VCU students’ tuition or fees. The state’s support also included funding for furniture and equipment throughout the building and its laboratories.
“We are truly grateful for the state’s support of our students, and in particular for our students in their first two years of coursework,” Hunnicutt said.
State-of-the-art labs and instruction spaces
On the STEM building’s first floor, highlights include two 100-seat classrooms designed for team-based learning and the Math Exchange, which is situated amid a glass ellipse and that welcomes math students to work individually, with tutors and instructors, in teams or as a class. Two psychology computer labs and a psychology seminar room are also on the first floor. And on the outside, an adjacent walkway provides easy access to Shafer Court Dining Center and James Branch Cabell Library.
The second floor features two 250-seat classrooms that are the largest team-based learning environments across either of VCU’s campuses. The Science Hub is also on this floor, providing a dedicated space for student/faculty interaction, study groups and specialized support for STEM classes. And the second level includes academic advising office space, two 50-seat classrooms, open and enclosed study spaces, and a large commons area with a balcony overlooking Franklin Street.
The third floor is home to eight biology laboratory spaces, a plant-growing room, a forensic sciences lab, a crime scene lab and an anthropology and forensics lab. There also are open and enclosed study spaces as well as office space for lab coordinators and teaching assistants.
“Forensic Science is gaining three dedicated laboratory classrooms, each with individual adjacent prep rooms, including forensic microscopy, anthropology and crime scene investigation spaces,” said Tracey Dawson Green, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Forensic Science. “These are the first instructional spaces for forensic science that were designed specifically for forensic applications, and with dedicated space only for these functions, students will enjoy a larger, more comfortable space to work on the large array of microscopes and instrumentation while providing more table surface space for comprehensive evidence evaluation and screening.”
In addition to the dedicated laboratory and prep room, the new crime scene investigation facility includes a state-of-the art crime scene staging area that allows forensic science students to gain hands-on practice with more realistic scenes using the best technology available.
“The CSI facility is the only one of its kind in Virginia,” Dawson Green said. “With these new, modern and more functional areas, the VCU Department of Forensic Science will be able to expand instructional offerings for our current students, as well as increase training opportunities for working practitioners across the state and region. We are really excited to be able to use this space to provide Virginia and surrounding states with laboratory professionals who are even more poised to meet the demands of the forensic, clinical and public health communities.”
After the ribbon-cutting Wednesday, Jaelyn Jenifer, a senior forensic science major, showed visitors the crime scene investigation lab, set up with mock scene scenarios, including a footprint impression, evidence documentation and a homicide.
“When I did my crime scene lab at VCU, we did it outside in the rain and it was during the marathon so we had people coming up and asking: ‘Is this a real crime scene? What’s going on?’” Jenifer said. “I think this [new lab] is great because it gives us a space here on campus and our own section of this building.”
Facilities such as the crime scene investigation lab, she added, will help prepare VCU students for careers in forensic science.
“We do crime scene photography, we do fingerprint analysis, we do street print analysis, all types of stuff,” she said. “It’ll definitely help us hone our skills so we can take them out into the real world.”
The anthropology lab space has windows on nearly every side, allowing passing students to observe classes such as human evolution.
“What I’m particularly excited about is that students will be able to see us doing active hands-on exciting, engaging things with cool-looking skulls and cool-looking bones,” said Amy Rector, Ph.D., an associate professor of anthropology and director of the School of World Studies. “Those students are going to know that they can take courses like that and join us in some of our classes.”
Rector added that secure storage facilities for bones connected to the lab will enhance student learning.
“They're all right here. If I want to change lanes in the middle of a lab and pull out something else, it's here to do that,” she said. “It just really lends to the scientific investigation of humans, that this is part of science and a lab, and this is an exciting way to investigate who we are and where we've come from.”
New, sophisticated spaces for chemistry and kinesiology and health sciences
The STEM building’s fourth floor includes six general chemistry laboratories equipped with snorkel hoods as well as six physics labs, including one dedicated to astronomy. There also are open and enclosed study spaces, pre-lab/post-lab classroom space and offices for lab coordinators and teaching assistants.
The fifth floor houses five chemistry labs with dedicated instrumentation for organic chemistry, doubling the Department of Chemistry’s current organic lab space. The floor also features a forensics lab and more open and enclosed study space, as well as offices for lab coordinators and teaching assistants.
“I just came back from my second tour of the new STEM building, and I am even more excited about the opportunities it brings to chemistry and all the other STEM departments at VCU,” said Maryanne Collinson, Ph.D., chair and professor in the Department of Chemistry. “It will provide new, state-of-the-art opportunities to better engage our students and facilitate learning. Our students are our future, and this new building will help us provide them with the best education possible. I am so grateful to all of those who have made this 13-year dream of mine a reality.”
The STEM building’s sixth floor is the new home for the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences. It includes running tracks, resistance and biomechanics labs, and labs filled with state-of-the-art exercise equipment. It also has space for faculty offices.
“Like all new buildings, this will immediately provide resources to VCU’s students in offering a world-class education that rivals the best programs in the country,” said Lee Franco, Ph.D., chair and associate professor of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences. “Kinesiology and health sciences is excited to offer classes in the new space, where students will be introduced to specialized equipment that allows them to more easily address population health through physiological responses to physical activity.”
“The state-of-the-art classrooms will also allow students to actively participate in their academic success, enhancing creativity and innovation, while fostering a stronger sense of engagement within VCU,” Franco added. “Overall, I’m confident the new building will highlight the transdisciplinary approach to STEM education, which is critical for today’s students to have influence in the development of our society.”
In his remarks at the ribbon-cutting, Rao said the STEM building is a “world-class facility” that will serve as a front door for VCU students in numerous ways, fostering collaboration, innovation and discovery and preparing them for STEM careers.
“These spaces in this building are deeply engaging. They are highly professional. Listen to what students are telling us today. What they are saying is: I’m a professional now and I want my educational experience to be a part of that now. It is also a place for great innovation where we will combine the best of thinking from so many different disciplines led by our faculty, engaged by our students.”
As he was walking into the STEM building for the event, he added, he spoke with a student.
“He said to me as I was walking in — and this may be one of the most important things that I say — is that ‘This is really cool.’”
Republished courtesy of VCU