USD Magazine, Winter 2000

"We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us. " - Winston Churchill J ust minutes before his class presentation is due, chemistry student Robin Bareng frantically washes equipment, mixes solu– tions and measures his concoctions into vol– umetric flasks. With glass rubes tinkling in a wooden tray, pencil behind one ear and backpack askew, Bareng fidgets as he waits for traffic co clear on Hill Smee behind Copley Library. His classroom is across rhe street. The lab where he prepared the presentation is behind him in the basement of Camino Hall, one floor beneath Shiley Theatre and two floors under women's dormitories. "You gee used co it," says Bareng with a shrug. "Ir's a hassle because of all rhe rime chat's wasted breaking things down, cleaning up and then setting up again, bur what else are you going co do?" Bareng's science shuffle is nor unusual at USD. As the campus grew and the demand for science instruction expanded during the past five decades, faculty and students have

had co hotfoot it among three buildings co gee co classes and labs for the four science disciplines - chemistry, biology, physics and marine sciences. Lack of space and decentralization means labs muse be scheduled down co the minute. Experiments are prepped in one building and hand carried co another. And co make matters worse, cramped labs in the base– ments of Camino and Serra Halls, built in the 1950s, routinely suffer power outages, ofren with experiments in progress, and can't be wired for computers or Internet access. "We're kind of in the Scone Age," admits chemistry professor Tammy Dwyer. Bur the high-tech age is on the horizon with plans for a $45 million Science and Technology Center, which will bring all facets of the university's science programs together under one roof in a new 150,000- square-foor building. Each department will have its own central office, lab space, class– rooms and faculty offices. Plans also call for

By John Titchen

12

USD M AGAZ I N E