For Immediate Release—Friday, Nov. 3, 2006
Contact:
Mary E. McCrank
Media Relations Officer
(585) 245-5516
SUNY Geneseo to Celebrate Opening of Integrated
Science Center Nov. 9-10
GENESEO, N.Y.—The State University of New York at
Geneseo will celebrate the opening of its Integrated Science Center Thursday,
Nov. 9, and Friday, Nov. 10, with tours of the state-of-the-art building,
symposia, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and an arts exhibit.
John H. Marburger III, science advisor to President George
W. Bush and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, will
deliver the keynote address following the ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 10.
The opening of the Integrated Science Center (ISC) will
celebrate Geneseo's continuing excellence as the state's most selective public
institution and mark a new era in science teaching, learning and research in
Western New York. It will allow Geneseo, which has offered combined majors in
biophysics, biochemistry, geochemistry and geophysics for many years, to
integrate the sciences.
"This $53 million project represents a significant state
investment in science education and includes $5 million for equipment.
Undergraduate research is already a hallmark at Geneseo. With the addition of
our new science center, we can now offer the highest quality classes,
laboratories and research experiences," said Geneseo Provost and Vice President
of Academic Affairs Katherine Conway-Turner.
"Integrating the sciences within one large complex will
facilitate the kind of interdisciplinary research and discovery that is seldom
seen at an undergraduate institution. Most importantly, this new facility is a
tremendous boost for the production of scientific intellectual capital for the
state of New York."
Guided tours of the building will be offered for faculty,
students, the public and guests from 2-4 p.m. Nov. 9 and noon-2 p.m. Nov. 10.
The Integrated Science Center will be completed in two
phases. Phase I, which began in the fall of 2003, is the $33 million new ISC,
featuring 105,000 square feet and housing 17 instructional
lab and 36 faculty research labs. The building opened for
classes this August and houses the college's departments of geological sciences
and biology. Phase II, which will begin in the fall of 2007, will be a $20
million renovation to Greene Hall, which connects to the ISC. Greene Hall will
continue to house the departments of chemistry and physics and astronomy.
The facilities and equipment in the ISC include greenhouses
with three research labs and a demonstration lab; an optics lab; a rooftop
astronomy observation deck and dome with a new Meade 20-inch Ritchey-Cretien
reflecting telescope; a wave tank and flume in the hydrology/geology lab;
electron microscopes; X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence units;
geophysical equipment; a confocal microscope; a flow cytometer; and four
environmental chambers.
The atrium of the ISC includes representation of the
sciences with a Foucault pendulum (physics), a two-story, three-dimensional
periodic table of the elements (chemistry); an inlaid geological timeline
(geological sciences); and a glass-etched salamander life cycle (biology).
The ISC was designed by the New York City office of HOK
Architects (Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum (HOK/New York) to enable future
collaboration among the science departments in teaching and research. The Pike
Company, Inc., of Rochester served as the contractor for the project.
The New York State Legislature provided the funding for the
ISC and has committed funding for the renovation of Greene Hall. State Sen.
Dale M. Volker, R-Depew, was instrumental in the Legislature's decision to
appropriate the funding. State Senator Daniel J. Burling, R-Warsaw, also
provided support of the projects.
U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence, has secured
funding for the college throughout the past several years, including $150,000
for a cluster computing lab, $250,000 toward the purchase of a linear
accelerator and $300,000 toward the purchase of a
Fourier Transform Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer
that will be used for research of organic and biochemical molecules and will
allow researchers to determine the structure of these molecules.
An All-College Hour Symposium on the Sciences and the
Liberal Arts will be held from 12:45-1:50 p.m. Nov. 9 in 202 Newton Hall. Linda Rayor, an assistant professor of entomology
and senior research associate at Cornell University, will deliver a
presentation titled "A Romance With Spiders." Conway-Turner will introduce
Rayor, who is an arthropod behavioral ecologist with special interest in the
interactions between predatory and social behavior. Spiders have evoked a
combination of fear and fascination for millennia. Raynor will provide a
dynamic introduction to the real facts about spiders and their amazing biology.
She will talk about the diverse predatory behavior and unique sex lives of spiders.
The audience can watch a tarantula shed her exoskeleton and explore the lives
of social spiders. Raynor also will discuss the importance of spiders to
worldwide ecosystems.
Raynor grew up in Denver, where flashy insects and spiders
were common. An animal lover since she was a child, she received her bachelor's
degree in molecular and cellular biology from the University of Colorado at
Boulder. She received her Ph.D. in systematics and ecology to become a
behavioral ecologist. While studying prairie dog social behavior in graduate
school, Raynor developed a love for spiders, insects and entomologists. Her
research on social spiders and wasps has taken her to Mexico, Costa Rica,
Arizona and Australia. At Cornell, she teaches Spider Biology and Insect
Behavior. Raynor's current research is on the costs and benefits of group
living in social spiders.
A Symposium on Science Pedagogy in the Schools will be
held from 4:30-6 p.m. Nov. 9 in the MacVittie College Union Ballroom. Eugenie C. Scott, executive director of the
National Center for Science Education, Inc., will deliver a talk titled
"Evolution Across the Science Curriculum." This event is sponsored by the
college's Ella Cline Shear School of Education and the Office of the Provost.
The national center, based in Oakland, Calif., is an organization of
scientists, teachers and others that works to improve the teaching of
evolution. The center promotes science as a way of knowing and opposes the
teaching of creationism and other religious-based views in science classes.
Scott is a nationally recognized proponent of separation of church and state.
She received her Ph.D. in biological anthropology from the University of
Missouri and has taught at the University of Kentucky and the University of
Colorado. The author of "Creationism vs. Evolution: An Introduction," Scott has
published numerous papers and monographs. She has served as chair of the Ethics
Committee of the American Anthropological Association, as president of the
American Association of Physical Anthropologists and has chaired both the
anthropology and education sections of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science. She also has served on the National Advisory Council of
Americans United for Separation of Church of State and the American Civil
Liberties Union. Scott has appeared on numerous national media shows, serving
as a spokesperson for "the scientific view," including "Crossfire," "Firing
Line," "Geraldo," "Donahue" and "The Pat Buchanan Show." Scott is the recipient
of the Bruce Albers Award of the American Society for Cell Biology, the Isaac
Asimov Science Award from the American Humanist Association, the First Amendment
Award from the Playboy Foundation, the James Randi Award from the Skeptic
Society and the Distinguished Alumna Award from the University of Missouri
College of Arts and Sciences.
During the symposium on science pedagogy, Geneseo will award
two Geneseo Alumni Association Awards.
Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Computational
Astrophysics David Meisel will receive the Geneseo Alumni Association 2006
Honorary Lifetime Membership. This award recognizes a non-alumnus/a who has
made outstanding contributions to Geneseo Alumni.
Meisel, who joined the college in 1970, was promoted to the
rank of SUNY Distinguished Professor in 2001. It is the highest rank in the
SUNY system. Meisel was the fourth faculty member at the college to receive the
title, which is conferred on SUNY faculty who have achieved national or
international prominence within their field. Meisel has been a prominent
astronomer since he investigated Comet Kohoutek shortly before his arrival at
Geneseo. Meisel, who retired in 2005 after a 35-year teaching career with the
college, delivered the commencement address the same year he retired. The title
of his speech was "The Answer is 42." Meisel, who specializes in searching for
interstellar micrometeors, took the title of his speech from "The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy," which states 42 is the answer to life, the universe and
everything. Throughout his tenure at Geneseo, Meisel worked with numerous
undergraduate students on world-class research.
Using Geneseo's advanced computer clusters to analyze data
collected in Earth's upper atmosphere, Meisel—who continues to conduct
research at SUNY Geneseo—has confirmed the findings of dust from outside
our solar system. Particles from outer space may provide clues about the
origins of the universe and the birth of our planet. Meisel's research has
appeared in Icarus, Science, Nature, Solar Physics and the Astrophysical Journal, and his work has been presented throughout the
world. His projects have included work on the SPIRIT rocket launch and the
discovery of micrometers originating from outside the solar system.
George Wolfe '80 will receive the Geneseo Alumni Association
2006 Excellence in Education Award. This award is presented to a Geneseo
graduate who has achieved extraordinary distinction in the field of education,
including pre-kindergarten through post-secondary classroom teaching and school
services. Wolfe received his New York State Teacher Certificate from Geneseo.
Wolfe is an award-winning teacher and served as the longtime host of the
WXXI-produced television show, "Homework Hotline" and its Science Challenge
segment. The show was broadcast on public television stations across the state.
In 2004, he was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame. After serving
the Rochester City School District from 1984-2005, Wolfe left Wilson Magnet
High School to accept a job developing in the curriculum for the Loudoun County
Public Schools Academy of Science in Sterling, Va.
A reception for participants will immediately follow the
symposium.
Tours of the ISC will resume from noon-2 p.m. Nov. 10.
The ribbon-cutting and formal opening of the building
will be held at 2 p.m. Nov. 10 in the atrium of the ISC. Marburger will address the audience with his
speech, titled "Integrating the
Sciences: The Importance of Multidisciplinary Research and Education" at 3 p.m.
Nov. 10 in 204 Newton Hall. A reception will follow at 4 p.m. in Newton Hall
and the ISC.
Before his appointment to serve in the Executive Office of
the President, Marburger served as director of Brookhaven National Laboratory
and as president of SUNY Stony Brook from 1980-1994. He went to Long Island
from the University of Southern California, where he served as a professor of
physics and electrical engineering and chair of physics and dean of the College
of Letters, Arts and Sciences. In 1994, he returned to the faculty at SUNY
Stony Brook, teaching and conducting research in optical science as a
university professor. Three years later, he became president of Brookhaven
Science Associates, a partnership between the university and Battelle Memorial
Institute that competed for and won the contract to operate Brookhaven National
Laboratory.
At USC, Marburger contributed to the rapidly growing field
of nonlinear optics, developing theory for various laser phenomena, and served
as a co-founder of the university's Center for Laser Studies. His teaching
activities included "Frontiers of Electronics," a series of educational
programs on CBS. His presidency at SUNY Stony Brook coincided with the opening
and growth of University Hospital and the development of the biological
sciences as a major strength of the university. Marburger received his
bachelor's degree in physics from Princeton University in 1962 and his Ph.D. in
applied physics from Stanford University in 1967.
In conjunction with the opening of the science building, the
college's Lockhart Gallery will open a new exhibit Nov. 7 titled "The Art of
Science: Artists Whose Inspiration is the Sciences." The exhibit is free and
open to the public. The exhibit will run through Dec. 14 in the gallery,
located in the McClellan House, 26 Main St., in the village of Geneseo. An
opening reception, free and open to the public, will be held from 5-7 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 7. The sciences—including mathematics, biology, geology,
anatomy and physics—have provided source material for artists throughout
history. This exhibition of contemporary artists reveals the art (sometimes in
its aesthetic beauty, sometimes in its awe-inspiring power) that is found in
science. The exhibit includes the work of nationally and internationally
recognized local artists: Doug Anderson and Dan DeZarn, faculty in Geneseo's
School of the Arts, and Andrew Davidhazy and Michael Peres, faculty of
photographic science at Rochester Institute of Technology. Also on view from
the gallery's permanent collection is Jane Jeffrey's scientific watercolor
illustrations of insects. The gallery is open from noon-4 p.m.
Mondays-Saturdays with extended hours of noon-8 p.m. Thursdays. (The gallery
will be closed Nov. 22-26 for the Thanksgiving break.)
For more information about these celebratory events, go to: http://science.geneseo.edu/.
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Editor's note: High-resolution digital photographs of the
interior and exterior of the Integrated Science Center, as well as those of
professors and students conducting scientific research, are available upon
request.