I think the new lab is beautiful. I love the open space. I love the natural light.
I think that this is great for creativity, positivity. This is a space
the students will just want to be here, whether they're studying here, whether
doing experiments here or even helping one another and talking about ideas,
especially for the collaboration with the other professors, the scholarship.
That's when the result is going to be amazing.
One of my favorite features of this building is the fritted glass. So there
are little dots in the window. They're helpful for not only making the building
more energy-efficient because there's not as much solar game, but also it makes
sure that birds can see the window, and they don't fly into it as much, so the
whole building is a lot more environmentally friendly.
Being in Rockwell is going to be able to take us to the next level with students. We
have the ability to take CT scans, MRI scans that have been sampled from humans
but also other animals. We have the ability to present them dichoptically
and synchronize them with a pair of glasses that students will be able to
wear and visualize on the projection screen. So much like going to see a movie
where it's in three dimensions and experience that, students will now be
able to see them in three-dimensional presentation. For new students especially
coming into computer science the best way to learn is collaboratively. This
classroom is set up so that we can do that. The whole room is a whiteboard.
Students can simply get up from their tables and go to any wall and talk and
describe what they need to do. We have a series of lab tables that will be on
casters, and they can be configured to support small teams. From the very
beginning our students are gaining skills that they will need when they
enter the business world. The opportunity excitement for the Dyer Center is really
based around the new opportunities for collaboration and connectivity with the
various academic departments in this space. Not only do we now have a
permanent home, but it's really a building that represents the future of
this institution in the way forward. This space is really going to catapult the
progress that we've made so far on campus.
It gives us a home. We have a sense of place being in this building to allow us
to interact with one another more effectively and more naturally on a
daily basis. The faculty members that are totally dedicated to the environmental
studies program have offices adjacent to one another,
adjacent to the sustainability director across the hall from the sustainability
office with touchdown space for environmental science and studies and
sustainability, and they're also in the same hallway as the ecologist from
biology who contributes the most courses to the program. We have not had that
coexistence previously to being in Rockwell Center, so this changes the game
in a big way for us.