Renovated and expanded chemistry laboratories at Denison are rededicated and celebrated with two lectures

Date of Event: October 13, 2011

Posted: October 7, 2011

Ebaugh Laboratories

GRANVILLE, Ohio—Denison University announces the completion and rededication of the newly renovated and expanded Ebaugh Laboratories, which house Denison’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. As part of the celebration, Shelie Miller, a member of the Denison class of 2000 and assistant professor at the School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, will speak on the topic of “Biofuels: A Growing Energy Industry,” at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 13; and Julio de Paula, professor of chemistry at Lewis and Clark College, will speak on “The role of chemistry and biochemistry education and the liberal arts mission in the 21st century,” at 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14. Both lectures will take place in Ebaugh Laboratories, room 113, (500 West Loop). A brief ceremony to mark the official rededication of the new Ebaugh Laboratories will be held at 4:45 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14, near the entrance of the building. Denison’s Board of Trustees will attend along with students, faculty and staff. All events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Annabel Edwards at 740-587-8556 or visit www.denison.edu.

The 17-month construction project has included both a major addition (19,252 square feet) and an exhaustive renovation of the existing 1966 L-shaped building, resulting in a finished facility totaling 51,675 square feet. The new structure includes four classrooms of varying size, six teaching laboratories, research lab space for 10 faculty and instrumentation rooms on each floor. The new facilities are designed to advance Denison’s “hands-on,” experiential teaching and learning, where collaboration is a key element. Students work together, and they work closely with faculty members. They also work across disciplines, with biologists, chemists and physicists, for example, conducting collaborative research.

Sonya McKay, associate professor of chemistry and faculty shepherd for the Ebaugh project, describes the new Ebaugh as the product of “amazing people, teamwork, compromise and a lot of hard work. Student ideas, faculty dreams and facility needs were turned into a cohesive vision by architects, lab designers and engineers.” The result is a building that allows the “everyday practice of teaching, learning and researching science to become art.”

To allow building to meet the needs of today’s teaching, learning, and research, and also to grow with future changes in chemistry pedagogy, many spaces within Ebaugh are modular, allowing a conventional teaching lab to be reconfigured easily for group projects. Dedicated lab spaces accommodate joint faculty and student research as part of Denison’s noted Summer Scholars program, departmental honors projects and students’ preparation for post-graduate pursuits. About 60 percent of Denison’s chemistry and biochemistry majors go on to earn graduate degrees at major research universities around the nation and the world.

In 2008, Denison made a commitment for all new campus construction to be built to sustainable standards, as set by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. Ebaugh Laboratories is one of four projects constructed to LEED specifications on the Denison campus, the first being the renovation and expansion of the Bryant Arts building, which earned LEED Gold certification last year. The new natatorium and Chamberlin residence hall currently are being renovated according to LEED standards. In 1998, Barney-Davis Hall also was renovated in accordance with sustainable practices.

The principal design architects for the project were Steve Stein and Tom Nugent of JBA Architects in Newark, Ohio. Their portfolio includes the Dow Agrosciences Discovery Biotechnology Research Center; Nestle Westreco USDA Pilot Plant and Support Laboratories; and Quantun Chemical USI Northlake Research Center. The construction firm was Lincoln Construction, of Columbus, and the engineering firm was Prater Engineering, of Dublin, Ohio.

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement, and the cultivation of independent thinking.

Calendar Listing:

CALENDAR LISTING: Denison University, Granville—Lecture by Shelie Miller, assistant professor, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, “Biofuels: A Growing Energy Industry,” at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 13, in Ebaugh Laboratories room 113 (500 West Loop). Free and open to the public. For more information, contact Annabel Edwards at 740-587-8556 or visit www.denison.edu.

CALENDAR LISTING: Denison University, Granville—Lecture by Julio de Paula, professor of chemistry at Lewis and Clark College, “The role of chemistry and biochemistry education and the liberal arts mission in the 21^st Century,” at 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14, in Ebaugh Laboratories room 113 (500 West Loop). Free and open to the public. For more information, contact Annabel Edwards at 740-587-8556 or visit www.denison.edu.

CALENDAR LISTING: Denison University, Granville—Rededication ceremony of the new Ebaugh Laboratories at 4:45 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14, in front of the Ebaugh Laboratories building (500 West Loop). Free and open to the public. For more information, contact Annabel Edwards at 740-587-8556 or visit www.denison.edu.

About Denison:

For event inquiries:

Name: Mary Frazell
Position Title: Associate Director, Event Planning
Primary Email: frazellm@denison.edu
Business Phone: (740) 587-6611

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