{"id":1010,"date":"2022-01-12T18:51:55","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T18:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/?post_type=stories&p=1010"},"modified":"2022-01-13T20:55:45","modified_gmt":"2022-01-13T20:55:45","slug":"stem-central","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/news\/stem-central\/","title":{"rendered":"STEM Central"},"content":{"rendered":"
A gleaming new Interdisciplinary Science center Promises a new era for \u2018teaching, learning and discovery\u2019 at EWU.<\/span><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Charles E. Reineke<\/strong><\/p>\n

O<\/span>n a rainy <\/span>fall Friday in October, the kind of weather only a meteorologist could love, a small crowd gathered to witness David May, EWU interim president, join pre-med student Tayrn Wilson in cutting the ribbon on a new era for Eastern science and scholarship.<\/p>\n

The pandemic-delayed opening of Eastern\u2019s Interdisciplinary Science Center (ISC), a $67 million, 102,000 square-foot marvel, promises to be a seminal event for a university that has long recognized its need to boost research and development. And while Eastern\u2019s foundational commitment to excellence in the humanities will not change, the capabilities unleased by the new ISC, along with the upcoming top-to-bottom remodeling of its companion Science Building, represent a transformational moment for the 139-year-old institution.
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The view from the ISC’s gleaming link to the soon-to-be-renovated Science Building.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Championed by the late Mary Cullinan, EWU\u2019s previous president, the ISC represents a key part of the university\u2019s push for a greater emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, otherwise known as STEM. The idea, officials say, is to provide an edge for university researchers and students as they navigate these economically vital, and increasingly competitive STEM-related disciplines. And what\u2019s good for the nation\u2019s economy promises to be good for graduates\u2019 employment prospects: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, recently projected that (the typically high-paying) jobs in the STEM fields will grow 8 percent by 2029, compared to 3.7 percent for all occupations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been eagerly awaiting this day, the opening of this building is special,\u201d said May at the event. \u201cJust one month ago our students were finally able to set foot inside what has remained mostly vacant for just over a year. They finally have the opportunity to learn in this dynamic, hands-on environment of teaching, learning and discovery.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

State lawmakers Sen. Jeff Holy, R-Cheney, and Rep. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, each of whom were instrumental in helping EWU secure state funding for the project, also spoke briefly to the crowd.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Dignitaries join David Bowman (second from right) at the ISC’s opening ceremony.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Holy, ranking member of the state senate’s Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee, touted EWU as a \u201cbest value\u201d in higher education, saying that Eastern has produced the highest percentage of STEM graduates of any other state college over the past 8 to 10 years. Eastern, he said, is a proven leader in higher education.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As he gestured toward a gleaming wall of glass behind him, Riccelli offered that the ISC further distinguishes Eastern Washington as a force to be reckoned with among the state\u2019s institutions of higher learning \u2014 even those powerhouses to EWU\u2019s west and south. \u201cWe\u2019re not the other Washington anymore,\u201d Riccelli said to enthusiastic applause.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Dignitaries aside<\/strong>, perhaps no one deserves more credit for the ISC than David Bowman, a professor of geology and dean of EWU\u2019s College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Bowman is an energetic Southern Californian whose disarming laugh and passion for learning make him an ideal ambassador for all things science. He arrived at Eastern from Cal State Fullerton, where the seismology specialist served for 12 years, including six as chair of the university\u2019s geological sciences department. Before that \u2014 with a freshly minted doctorate from the University of Southern California in hand \u2014 Bowman completed a postdoctoral stint in tectonics at the Institut de Physique du Globe in Paris, where he was a Chateaubriand Postdoctoral Fellow.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Earthquake researchers are typically well-traveled. Bowman is no exception, having led studies in remote, often challenging locales across the globe. After landing in Cheney five years ago, he put aside the fieldwork and immediately set about making the ISC a reality. Getting to the ribbon-cutting was as demanding as any of those previous projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

The process involved three stages, Bowman says. The first, \u201cpredesign,\u201d predated his arrival. \u201cThis is where you work with the architects to figure out what the need is, identify a location, and make a thumb-nail sketch of what you want to do,\u201d Bowman says. \u201cThat took about two years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Next came the actual designing of the building, another two-year process that Bowman joined a year-and-a-half in. Coming up with the final design, he recalls with a chuckle, \u201cinvolved a lot of detail and assessment of needs \u2014 assessments that typically involve endless meetings with faculty and facilities planners.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lastly was making construction of the building happen. \u201cMy job,\u201d he says, \u201cwas to go to the legislature and make sure we actually got the money to build. A lot of my first year at Eastern was spent in Olympia.\u201d Luckily, most members of the legislature were eager to sign off on Eastern\u2019s well-designed plan for giving STEM a boost. \u201cFor the most part, no, it wasn\u2019t a hard sell,\u201d Bowman says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now that<\/strong> the building is open and in-person learning has resumed, EWU students are already reaping the benefits of the center\u2019s four floors of laboratories, study areas and workspaces.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The ground floor entryway, with its display cases featuring exhibits from Eastern\u2019s large collection of relics from studies past, features light-filled, personal-technology-friendly spaces for student study and collaboration, just one of many such spaces throughout the building.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Floor zero, as Bowman calls it \u2014 \u201cit\u2019s a European thing,\u201d he says \u2014 is also home to two geology labs and a \u201csmart\u201d lecture hall which is large enough to accommodate public appearances by high-profile guest speakers.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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A new space for laboratory learning<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The second story, floor one, is outfitted for upper-division chemistry and biology instruction, with rows of well-equipped classroom laboratories. Despite years of retrofitting, labs in the old Science Building have had to rely on outdated technology for crucial systems such as fume hoods, exhaust venting and air-change systems. The ISC, on the other hand, is state-of-the-art. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis building has a modern, high-energy, high-efficiency air handling systems. It\u2019s also really energy efficient for a science building, which helps us to advance our green-certification credentials,\u201d says Bowman.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another feature of the spaces, on floor one and throughout the building, are sight lines both out to the corridors and from lab-to-lab. These \u201cwindows on the work\u201d represent the type of unexpected ISC design element that is both arresting visually and potentially game-changing for student learning. They may also help with recruitment.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the labs have these glass walls, so that you can see what\u2019s going on,\u201d Bowman says. \u201cThe old Science Building, as you know, looks kind of like an ICU or a morgue \u2014 or both. It\u2019s dark, it\u2019s dreary, it\u2019s scary. The ISC rooms are meant to be light and airy. I just can\u2019t wait to have prospective students going on a tour through here. They will be able to see a class going on; actually see the exciting classroom experience that they could be a part of.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The next floor up is reserved for geology and physics, including a new home for Eastern\u2019s extensive collection of fossils. Bowman holds up a particularly well-preserved plant impression and explains how a new generation of researchers are making use of these <\/span>\u201cpostcards\u201d from our distant past. Because they helped locate potential oil reserves, he explains, investigations of fossilized plants used to be the provenance of Big Oil. \u201cNow,\u201d Bowman says, \u201cthey\u2019re really important to us as we seek to better understand climate change. We can only know what might happen in the future if we know what happened in the past.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There certainly is nothing \u201cpast\u201d about the building\u2019s exterior, a gleaming mash-up of brick, steel and glass set at jutting angles that seem to propel the structure forward.\u00a0 <\/span>Designed by Seattle-based LMN Architects and constructed by Spokane Valley-based Lydig Construction, Inc., the ISC makes a powerful statement about the nature of the activities taking place inside. Perhaps not unintentionally, it also gives a visual shout-out to Bowman\u2019s particular area of expertise, geosciences. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When viewed the right way, he says, the building resembles a geode, complete with angular crystals and glistening surfaces. Gesturing toward the colorful rock facings of the complex\u2019s retaining walls, Bowman adds that these, too, have useful analogs to the natural world. \u201cYou can see that the walls have different shapes cut into them? These are meant to simulate geological cross-sections, so that we can go out with students and show them what, say, a fault looks like in the geological cross-section of the Earth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Even the plantings provide a landscape for learning. \u201cThey are all actually part of the intentional design \u2014 each of the different landscaping areas represents unique biozones in the state of Washington,\u201d says Bowman. \u201cOur goal was that even the plant material would become part of the teaching.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fusing instruction<\/strong> and research is, in fact, central to the ISC mission. Since its founding as a Normal School for teaching teachers, undergraduate instruction has been at the core of Eastern\u2019s identity. And while that proud tradition won\u2019t change, the new ISC represents a bridge to new forms of learning, methods that bridge research and instruction to give students hands-on experiences in rapidly evolving STEM fields.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Given this change, it\u2019s fitting that a more literal bridge comprises one of the ISC\u2019s most striking features \u2014 two, glass-enclosed walkways linking it to the original Science Building, which recently got the legislative nod for a $45 million makeover. When fully renovated, the Science Building will join the ISC as part of a \u201cscience-innovation complex\u201d aimed at advancing faculty research and giving students a leg-up on future academic and professional careers. As home to advanced labs and research workspaces, the renovated building will usher in a new era of scientific investigations at EWU, work that will not only expand Eastern\u2019s role as a regional center for innovation and discovery, but will expand student opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A glass-walled connection to the old Science Building.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe ISC really starts with the Science Building,\u201d Bowman says. \u201cThe Science Building is old. It\u2019s a Sputnik-era building for Sputnik-era science.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Over the decades, Bowman continues, the university has struggled to adapt spaces in the building to the needs of research faculty. \u201cIt\u2019s just not designed for modern stuff; it\u2019s really, really challenging to do contemporary science in that building. It wasn\u2019t even a lab building to begin with! I mean, there used to be a theater in there!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s been bubble gum and Band-aids,\u201d he adds. \u201cAnd that has been a major constraint on faculty and student research. For the College of STEM, engaging students in faculty research is key. Our faculty have to do research for their tenure, obviously, just like anywhere. But one of the things that distinguishes us is that we have undergraduates working with faculty on those projects.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When the reimagined Science Building opens its doors four years from now, beginning science students will take core classes in the ISC, while advanced undergraduates will round out their degrees with the participatory research experiences that Bowman deems so crucial. Together, he says, the linked buildings will allow STEM students near boundless opportunities to future-proof their careers.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the rainy ISC ribbon-cutting, Bowman used his turn at the microphone to remind the crowd that the moment was about more than brick and mortar, circling back to that commitment to education that has defined Eastern since its days as the Benjamin P. Cheney Academy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA new building is a wonderful thing, but it\u2019s the activities in the building, and the people it touches, that really matter,\u201d Bowman said.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the geology labs on the ground floor, to the STEM Student Senate Chambers on the third floor, this building is for students \u2014 a place where future scientists, business people and community leaders can build a fabric together while learning about the sciences and technologies that have, and will continue, to shape our world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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