Students enjoy updated, spacious labs in completed McFarland
Janel Shoun-Smith |
Two chemistry, four biology labs added in expansion
This spring semester brought a newly a completed 24,000-square-foot addition to the McFarland Science Center, sporting six new laboratories and providing the campus with a new space that accurately reflects size, quality and popularity of its undergraduate science programs.
While the departments of biology, and chemistry and biochemistry, have been operating and advancing successfully in nine labs in the original McFarland, dating back to 1967, several program additions in the last decade have made handling the lab instruction requirements more difficult, said Norma Burgess, dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
“We had to schedule labs later and later in the evening to make sure all students received the instruction required,” she said.
Adding to science enrollment growth has been the addition of a feeder program in chemistry for Lipscomb’s College of Pharmacy, a bachelor’s of nursing program, a biomolecular science master’s program and students’ general interest in growing health care career fields.
The six new labs in the $8.5 million McFarland addition not only take the pressure off scheduling instructional lab time, but it also allows for more one-on-one student involvement in faculty research, more laboratory space devoted to the biomolecular master’s program and the first designated study space that science students have ever had in the building.
“We’re very excited,” said Burgess. “Having great equipment is attractive to students who come from high schools that also have great equipment. Until now, we haven’t had the space to do more, but now we can.”
“There is a lot more space, and the lighting is fantastic. They really went all-out on it,” said Abby Newby, a junior dietetics major from Washington. “It is definitely more space to work in, and I like the atmosphere. The fact that they put in big windows and let in natural light makes people a lot happier.”
The ground floor of the addition sports a new, airy Belmont Boulevard entrance with a patio seating area. The biology department hosts two labs on this level: a microbiology lab and a multi-purpose lab. These labs boast new microscopes and hot plates. “More than $100,000 has been invested in new microscopes,” said Kent Gallaher, chair of the department of biology.
He is particularly excited about new ceramic loop sterilizers, electronic devices that heat hand-held instruments used in experiments. Replacing the gas flames used for this purpose in the old labs makes experiments safer, keeps the room temperature cooler and eliminates overhead equipment that blocks the teacher’s view of the students, he said.
Two anatomy labs that serve all the pre-med and pre-nursing majors are located on the third floor. According to Gallaher, around 200 students a year must take anatomy labs. The new labs include the same drainage, lighting and equipment found in a surgical suite.
The biology department now has new models, skeletons, cadavers, a centrifuge, incubated shaker and an autoclave, thanks to the investment of nearly half a million dollars that has been allotted for new scientific equipment for the new labs over the course of the next two years.
McFarland’s original science labs have overhead water and air lines for each station, making it difficult for professors to see the whole class as they conduct experiments, said Kent Clinger, chair of the chemistry department. In addition, they have only a few large, collaborative hoods or small individual hoods (areas with constant air exhaust to suck up toxic fumes) to conduct experiments, which makes it difficult to have all students conduct experiments at the same time or to conduct certain experiments that take up more room, he said.
In the two new, fourth-floor chemistry labs, all the lines come up to individual stations through the floor, allowing the professors much better sightlines to every student. Individual hoods in the multi-purpose chemistry lab are larger and transparent, and the organic chemistry lab now includes 13 larger collaborative hoods, so students can conduct all experiments at the same time.
“Here, I can see every student without having to walk up and down the aisles with my back to half the students,” said Clinger. “This new addition gives us a competitive organic chemistry lab that will help us recruit new students, as well as being safer and better for teaching.”
Both the chemistry and biology labs include new snorkels, overhead movable pipes that allow a student to place air exhaust immediately over the chemical or specimen they are using. Overall, the chemistry labs will have much better airflow, with the air turning over in the room several times each hour, Clinger said.
Improvements will continue in the future as the chemistry and biochemistry department works to add a research lab that will bring five new instruments online for polymer research, and the biology department expands its biomolecular master’s program from 200 square feet to 2,500 square feet of lab space devoted to the 27 students in the program.
Finally, common areas with big-screen TVs and seating for both chemistry and biology will allow the departments to do pre-lab lectures in more comfortable surroundings, to potentially hold conferences and to provide their student academic societies with a meeting space where refreshments can be served, something prohibited in lab spaces.
Each lab will be electronically secured and includes technological docking stations and wireless Internet for students’ mobile devices.
As the home base for all of Lipscomb’s undergraduates majoring in science-related fields, McFarland Science Center has launched the careers of innumerable health science professionals since it was constructed in the 1960s. “With this new addition, I can only imagine just how far and how high these students will fly,” said Burgess.