Features
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| Students listen to professor Patrick Spencer in their geology class, The Physical Earth |
Next summer Whitman College will lay the foundations for the 35,000-square-foot building, which will adjoin the present science facility on the west side, facing Harper Joy Theatre. The three-story science building constructed in 1964 and its 1981 addition will be renovated as part of the project.
Not only Joe Heacock and his peers, but also students for many years ahead, will use the new science complex as a center of study, research, and discussion. In it, they will get their hands dirty in the process of learning basic science. They also will have many chances to work with their professors on scientific questions that only hovered on the horizon when Wayne Tilson was at Whitman 30 years ago.
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| Professor of biology Chuck Drabek and Liz McIntosh, '00, work at the scanning electronic microscope. |
Many "nonprogrammed" study and lounge areas are incorporated into the construction design, said Templeton, who serves as faculty liaison for the project. Underscoring the accessibility of Whitman's faculty, such spaces are envisioned not only as study nooks, but also as places where professors may talk with one student or meet with a group of students. "There will be more opportunities for one-to-one, as well as one-to-many, interaction in these open areas," said Templeton.
Much of the chemistry program will move into the new building, which will accommodate ventilation ductwork and other mechanical systems required by today's standards. Part of the geology department will find new quarters there, including a sedimentary/paleontologylab and an environmental studies classroom, and physics faculty will have a set of office/research-lab suites on the second floor.
Vacated space in the current science building will be renovated to provide much-needed elbow room for the remaining science programs and disciplines. Faculty-student research laboratories and other upgraded facilities will be provided.
From genomics to extra-solar planets, new work in science draws students
The goal of the building project is to accommodate a science program bursting at the seams now and destined for further expansion in a world that increasingly needs liberal arts-educated scientists and science-literate citizens.
Almost 20 years have passed since Whitman last increased the amount of space dedicated to the teaching of the sciences. In one of those years alone 1999 scientists discovered how to make stem cells from human embryos, uncovered the first sequence for a human chromosome, created a new kind of gas that may help them probe the basic nature of matter, and brought the count of known extra-solar planets to almost 30. These developments were among 10 cited in 1999 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for their "profound implications for society and the advancement of science."
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| Jason Peterson, '99, right, conducted many planetarium shows while he was at Whitman. He now teaches second grade in Beaverton, Oregon. |
"The biology department in particular experienced a huge increase more than any other department at Whitman," noted Chuck Drabek, professor of biology. "There are almost three times as many biology majors as there were even 10 years ago 46 in the class of 2000 compared to 17 in 1990.
"While nationally, interest in the sciences in general has increased, interest in the life sciences in particular has grown dramatically," said Drabek. "Ten years ago, prospective M.D.'s made up our primary source of biology majors. Now there are new career directions for biology majors, such as the fields of neurobiology and conservation biology."
Scientific topics widely covered in the media have influenced a generation of students, Drabek added. Students have grown to college age hearing about such exciting scientific advances as cloning and about such issues as degradation of the environment.
To teach all of these enthusiastic students, Whitman has added to the number of faculty in the sciences since 1980, and the curriculum has grown even more substantially, said Pat Keef, dean of the faculty. Keef came to Whitman in 1980 as a mathematics professor. "When I arrived, there was one person teaching geology. There are now four, counting an environmental studies/geology position, and we created a geology department. Biology has gone from four to six faculty members; chemistry from four to five; physics from four to five; and astronomy from one to two."
This expansion, in every department, "has strengthened the richness of course offerings considerably," observed Keef. "There is revolutionary work going on in many of the disciplines, especially in the life sciences and earth sciences, which means we are continually updating the curriculum." Just this year, courses in neurobiology, meteorology, and conservation biology were added. Other additions to the catalog just within the last 10 years include the following: Genes and Genetic Engineering, Biophysics, Environmental Chemistry, Geochemistry, and a program of courses titled Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Space for working scientists both students and faculty
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| Nick Malmquist, '00, a chemistry-biology major, works in the lab with professor Skip Wade. This year, Malmquist is a lab tech/researcher in the pharmacology department at the University of Nevada School of Medicine |
"Current space is not arranged for the new pedagogic techniques that rely on discussion rather than on lecture," noted Keef. "Such instruction requires smaller classes. Even such introductory courses as general chemistry today very seldom have more than 50 students. Instruction also is discovery based,' more hands-on, especially in some disciplines such as physics."
In 1980 the prevailing model for teaching physics, for example, consisted of classroom lecture with assignments and parallel laboratory courses, explained associate professor of physics Fred Moore. "The new model uses an interactive, activity-based, seminar approach with heavy emphasis on original laboratory or field research."
Indeed, the most significant change in the science scene at Whitman in the last 20 years and all across the campus as well is the amount of original research that takes place. "In 1980, no science department required a student research project. Today, nearly all do," said Keef. "Only physics has no required senior project, but most physics majors do one anyway."
For many students, the chance to move out of the classroom and into professional-level research while they are still undergraduates is the hallmark of their Whitman College education.
Their professors, most of whom conduct some kind of research, serve as models of the professional scientist at work. "Since 1980, it has become unusual for a science faculty member not to have his or her own on-going professional research agenda," said Keef, who noted that such activity is necessary and has many advantages for students. "Faculty can't be static in their disciplines; they have to know what's happening on the frontiers if they are going to help train the next generation of scientists. They need to model the approach to the discipline that we expect from the students and involve students in original research," he said. "Also, their contacts at graduate schools benefit their students, and their commitment to their discipline their enthusiasm permeates everything they do."
Since 1981 when the Sally Ann Abshire Research Scholar Awards were established, students have had increasing opportunities to learn the practice of science working along with their professors. They have collaborated on research covering a wide scope of subjects from biological control of insect pests to the geomorphic evolution of two Oregon rivers; from the behavior of vertical-cavity, surface-emitting lasers to the classification of asteroids. Their projects have taken them into the depths of solid-state physics, surface chemistry, kidney physiology, transition-metal chemistry, stellar evolution, and the history of early mammals.
Increasingly, Whitman students are listed as coauthors on research papers which have been published in science journals and presented at professional conferences. The most exceptional display of student research, however, takes place at the annual Whitman Undergraduate Conference. First convened in 1999, the conference underscores the importance and expansion of student research on the campus. At each of the two annual sessions so far, more than 100 students from all disciplines discussed their work before their classmates and professors. These original research studies and creative projects are produced in regular courses, as part or all of a senior thesis, for independent study, in collaboration with a professor, or during a summer internship.
All of these researchers and their projects require space. In the new science building and renovated existing complex, every science department plans new kinds of space not only for today's teaching modes but also for research. Research projects need laboratories for instrumentation, equipment, and other resources that range from state-of-the-art computers, lasers, and electron microscopes to map collections.
The physics department alone needs to accommodate not only five faculty members and their research but also about 15 individual student projects. "One part of the upper level laboratory curriculum is accomplished in a large laboratory for all of the students to work on the same projects simultaneously," Moore explained. But after the students build up a background of skills and expertise, they move on to substantially more sophisticated instrumentation. "This instrumentation for example, atomic force microscopes, atom traps, holography systems, and cryogenic systems should be set up in special rooms, either for climate control or darkness or vibration isolation."
That's why Moore is especially looking forward to a particular feature to be included in the renovation of the older science facilities. He and his advanced physics students will be able to work in a suite of five separate laboratory "cells," each housing specific apparatus. The separate cells will allow control of conditions specific to each experiment.
The teaching of geology, environmental studies, and astronomy also will take on new dimensions in large, brightly lit classrooms and labs. The sedimentology/paleontology program will have its own laboratory, and a new classroom will serve as headquarters for environmental studies. "We'll be able to spread things out," said associate professor Kevin Pogue, who noted that the department's hundreds of maps will be consolidated into a centralized resource room.
For the geologists, one highly anticipated feature of the construction project is a laboratory able to accommodate computers dedicated to GIS (Geographic Information Systems) technology as well as the large format printer the system requires. GIS is state of the art in the field of geology now, Pogue explained. "It is a powerful way of displaying maps, over-lays, and other types of illustrations. It is used everywhere, for example by the Forest Service to study road networks and stream systems."
Meanwhile, professors Andrea Dobson and U. J. Sofia plan to take their astronomy program a little closer to the stars with a move to the third floor of the Hall of Science. While at present their students, both majors and non-majors, share a single classroom, new facilities will include a separate computer lab and a student research area. "The new science building will bring our program, which is attracting an increasing number of students, in line with our peer institutions," noted Sofia.
From across the campus, a beacon for the sciences
The light-filled atrium, with its glass wall and skylights, will become a setting for displays of science collections and student work, receptions following public lectures, sessions of the Whitman Undergraduate Conference, and other events, said Templeton.
And while rock, shell, bird, and fossil collections will be arranged in interesting settings in the atrium, the building also will provide live-action views of the sciences. As science students and faculty members conduct research, other students and campus visitors will be able to watch. Through wide windows into the laboratories, anyone passing by on the first floor or balconies of the atrium may stop and observe the experiments going on.
"We're looking at this building as a way to showcase the sciences," said Templeton. "With windows into the labs, visitors will be able to see science happening. We're trying to demystify science, make it more visible and important to students.
"One of the most exciting, most critical aspects of the design is that this will be a more inviting, open, comfortable, and friendly building. It will be bright, with lots of light coming in and lots of interactive space where students and faculty can sit down and talk or work together. At night, the building will be lit up, and from outside we will be able to see the students working.
"It will make science come alive."