The building will be located along Shortlidge Road near Eisenhower Auditorium and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2003. The state has committed $57.3 million, and the University is seeking the remaining $5 million in private support.

“The new chemistry building is tangible proof of Penn State’s unswerving commitment to providing the finest possible opportunities for instruction and research to our students and faculty,” said University President Graham Spanier. “Ultimately, by expanding the frontiers of scientific knowledge, these opportunities will translate into real-world applications that help to make life better for all of us.”

Chemistry was among the first disciplines to be taught at Penn State when the University admitted its first students in 1859, and it continues to be central to scholarship in many scientific disciplines, according to Daniel Larson, dean of the Eberly College of Science.

“By giving us state of the art facilities for teaching and research, this building will be vital to our efforts to move Penn State’s chemistry program, already ranked among the nation’s top 20 in quality, into the ranks of the top 10,” said Larson.

The department enrolls about 310 students at all levels and has about 38 faculty members at the University Park campus.

“It is worth noting that more than 80 percent of our chemistry majors do research at some point in their four-year program,” Larson noted, “and this new building promises to increase the quality of that experience and help us attract even more talented students.”

One wing of the new Chemistry Building will be devoted to synthetic and biological chemistry. The other wing will house physical and analytical chemists—those who use lasers, vacuum chambers and other large instruments in their work. The department’s theoretical chemists will have space throughout the building.

The building will also contain nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometer facilities, a classroom, seminar rooms and administrative offices.

A glass-enclosed walkway and gathering space will span Shortlidge Road to connect the Chemistry Building with the Life Sciences Building, also under construction. The connection symbolizes the interdisciplinary nature of the sciences and aims to encourage greater collaboration and sharing of resources among students and faculty.

Also speaking at the ground breaking ceremony were Penn State Board of Trustees Chairman Edward R. Hintz, who expressed appreciation to state officials and Penn State alumni and friends for their financial support, and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Barbara J. Garrison, who presented details about how the building would be used.

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Contacts:
Mike Bezilla (814) 863-4512 (work) (814) 238-5842 (home) mxb13@psu.edu
Laura Stocker (814) 863-4512 (work) (814) 237-2013 (home) lstocker@psu.edu