Georgetown’s new Science Center, conceived and designed from the start to emphasize interdisciplinary learning and research, has excited science faculty with the prospect of increased opportunity for cross-department interaction and easier exchanges of ideas once the building opens.
But while they look forward to the advantages of moving into the state-of-the-art space, department chairs are emphasizing the importance of continued funding and support for science programs at Georgetown as the school attempts to stay competitive among top-tier institutions.
There is a common consensus among science faculty at Georgetown that the Reiss building, built in 1962, is not technologically able to support the experimental work done by modern researchers.
“The infrastructure in Reiss isn’t built to do the kinds of things we need to do in research labs,” Ed Van Keuren, chair of the physics department, said. “It’s too old to handle the electrical and plumbing and everything else.”
While the new science building will incorporate modern technology and infrastructure, a crucial feature of its design is improvements on interdisciplinary space. The Reiss building is interdisciplinary in that it houses the biology, chemistry, and physics departments within the same structure, but nothing about the building facilitates collaboration between the departments, which each occupy their own floor.
“It is hard in this building to interact with the lab right next door to you because everything opens out onto a hallway, but is separated by these cement walls and doors,” Biology Department Chair Steven Singer said.
In the new building, each research floor will house faculty from each of the three different departments, and professors who conduct similar research will be placed in close proximity. “There will be equipment shared, meeting spaces that are shared, and much more opportunities for interaction then there are in [Reiss],” Singer said.
Van Keuren, however, expressed the concern that having a building with mixed departments and spaces will make fostering a sense of community within each department more difficult.
The professors agree that the new building will have a positive impact on their specific departments.
“It will give us first class quality space and improve the quality of teaching and the quality of research,” said Yuye Tong, chair of the chemistry department.
But professors emphasize that the new building, while a significant step in the right direction, is only a short term solution that must be supported by continued development.
“It gives hope to students seeing that Georgetown is really doing something for the sciences, [but] I would say it is a starting point,” Tong said. “If there are no sustained efforts following by future investments, I think that this kind of attractiveness will dissipate in the future.”
The new building is not projected to significantly impact the number of researchers or faculty at Georgetown. It has the capacity to hold all existing science faculty, but leaves almost no room for expansion. For future development, Singer, Tong, and Van Keuren all cited renovation of the Reiss building as critical.
Singer said the renovation of Reiss is not predicted to happen anytime soon.
“It’s under discussion but there is no timeline,” he said.
This could pose a problem not only for the further development of the sciences, but for the competitiveness of Georgetown among its peer institutions. In recent years, schools like Stanford and Princeton have been devoting significant funds to the construction of new science space. For example, Stanford, in addition to having department-specific buildings for biology, chemistry, and physics, recently added a “Bio-X” building solely dedicated to interdisciplinary research.
The consensus at Georgetown is that even with the new building, a renovation to Reiss is necessary to keep pace nationally.
“Without sustained financial investment in the sciences—particularly in space and buildings—we cannot do it,” Tong said.
