A New Center for Science & Engineering

Advances in science and technology make news on a weekly basis. The advent of high-speed desktop computers, together with the expansion of information worldwide connections has changed the curriculum and teaching itself.

Molecular biology, neuroscience, the study and conservation of art, environmental science, history, astronomy, archaeology, anthropology, and a host of other subjects now incorporate new technologies and information at a faster pace, with an accompanying emphasis on undergraduate research and collaborative learning that can include faculty and students throughout the world.

By 1997, when the last self-study was in progress, it became evident that Smith would need to enhance its curriculum, recruit new faculty, and improve its facilities to remain a leader in science education. However, major changes required extensive planning, so limited renovations were made to address safety standards while planning continued.

For more than two years, an interdisciplinary Smith committee reviewed the cost and feasibility of retrofitting Burton, McConnell, and Sabin-Reed facilities to meet current and projected needs. Their findings clearly indicated the need to construct a larger, more flexible, science facility that includes more departments in proximity to one another, is more conducive to interdisciplinary work, and more adaptable to uses that we haven't yet discovered twenty-four hours a day.

The plan is to create a cluster of facilities that share some common services and foster an easy movement of people and ideas among departments. Coupled with any new construction are the carefully orchestrated renovations of older buildings for other uses and the movement of departments without interruption of student and faculty studies.