Portland State Weekend, the university’s open house, got an early start Friday afternoon with a celebration commemorating the newly renovated Science Research and Teaching Center (originally the Science Building 2 since 1971). A crowd of approximately 250 people comprised of students, faculty, administrators, partners and donors congregated in the building’s lobby to mark the occasion.
Portland State Weekend, the university’s open house, got an early start Friday afternoon with a celebration commemorating the newly renovated Science Research and Teaching Center (originally the Science Building 2 since 1971). A crowd of approximately 250 people comprised of students, faculty, administrators, partners and donors congregated in the building’s lobby to mark the occasion.
The updated building provides more space for scientific research at PSU and accommodates the growing student body. (Over the last ten years the number of students at PSU has grown significantly, and the number of science majors at PSU has tripled.) The building features 50,000 additional square feet of lab space, and the labs have been redesigned to maximize efficiency of space and flexibility of use.
Guided tours of the SRTC’s laboratories showcased the renovation’s focus on sustainability and collaboration. Improved and updated labs are more energy efficient and are projected to reduce energy use by 30 percent—reducing waste and saving the school $300,000 to $400,000 annually in energy costs.
Faculty at work in the labs on Friday afternoon expressed enthusiasm for the updated facilities. Much of the enthusiasm pertains to the ease with which researchers are now able to share their findings and lab space with colleagues. Paul Mortimer, the assistant dean for external relations, said that informal collaboration—scientists of different fields getting together to discuss their research—is the current trend, and that the SRTC was designed with that in mind.
PSU President Wim Wiewel spoke at the event. “It’s wonderful,” Wiewel said, “to have a building that can really accommodate the best in science teaching and research.” He compared the newly completed SRTC to what it was before the renovation. “The labs are brighter, more attractive and, most importantly, more efficient and more appropriate for modern teaching,” he said.
The SRTC embodies PSU’s ambitions, Wiewel said. “This building is simply one part of making Portland State achieve global excellence in research and teaching,” he added. The SRTC “is at the heart of what we want to be as an urban research university.”
Wiewel thanked PSU’s partners, donors and its allies in the state legislature for helping to make the $46.5 million project possible.
“Our buildings communicate how we value ourselves,” Wiewel commented later. “PSU students,” he added, “are every bit as deserving of quality space as students of private universities.”
