New Physical Sciences Building Keeps UCF Competitive in the 21st Century

The first phase of a $53 million Physical Sciences Building at the University of Central Florida is under way.

The building, which will house chemistry and physics laboratories, is necessary to keep the university competitive in the 21st century.

"The building we have now (Math and Physics) is very limiting in the kind of science we can do," said College of Sciences Dean Peter Panousis. "The building doesn't have the infrastructure to support today's technology."

The state provided about $21 million to fund the first phase of the 120,000-square-foot building under construction on the main campus. UCF anticipates receiving another $32 million in state funds this year, and the college plans to move quickly to add the second phase of the building once that money is in hand. The second part of the building will house classrooms, more labs and offices.

"There is a sense nationally that not enough attention is being paid to science and science education," Panousis said. "Chemistry and physics are the core of creating that knowledge base. This is where we are creating future scientists. This is where science begins."

The College of Sciences serves about 44 percent of lower division students on campus because it provides so many general education classes. All engineering majors and pre-med majors have to take at least a few classes in the college. Current technology and state-of-the-art labs are essential to keeping all of those students competitive.

The new four-story building will allow many of the physics faculty to move out of the Math and Physics building, which they currently call home. Plans call for the old space to be converted into classrooms. Several chemistry faculty members who call the Chemistry building home will also move into the new building. When the second phase of the project is complete, remaining faculty from the physics department will move into the new building.

Phase I, located behind the Burnett Biomedical Sciences building, began in November and is scheduled to be completed in 2009.

Physics will have 18 large research labs; four small labs, including a computer cluster lab; 26 faculty offices; and a seminar room in the new facility. Chemistry will get seven large labs, eight faculty offices and one computer lab. All of the labs are designed to be flexible, so they can be made smaller or larger and can be used by either physics or chemistry, said Associate Dean Jack McGuire.

"There was some intense planning for the building," McGuire said. "Equipment needs required isolating some rooms to limit vibrations caused by adjoining labs or mechanical equipment rooms. It's a very exciting time."