Challenges and Needs

Teaching, research and administrative space is a major concern of the department.

We have been pleased to work with CAS, Biology and Chemistry to develop a new renovation plan for teaching space in the Metcalf Science Building. This has been discussed in a previous section. Renovation of that space is a very pressing need. Yet it is also clear that even after the renovation we will still have too few classrooms within reasonable access of our demonstration facility. The department also needs new active learning space designed specifically for studio-type teaching.

With the expansion of our faculty in the area of biological physics, the expected return of Professor David Campbell to our department, and the hire of a junior particle experimentalist working at the LHC, we anticipate an increase in our needs of office space to accommodate the graduate students and research staff who are expected to work with these faculty. Unfortunately, as indicated in the section on facilities renovations and improvements, rather than an increase in office space, we face a possible reduction due to the expansion of the organic chemistry laboratories. Especially if this expansion goes through, finding new office space in the Metcalf Science Center to accommodate the biological physics and condensed matter physics efforts (we have adequate space in PRB for the particle experimentalist) represents a most pressing need.

A major concern of the graduate students and faculty has been the absence of a common room. We have identified sufficient space for this on the second floor (700 sq ft) of the Metcalf Science Center, however using the space for the common room will require relocation of an instructional laboratory.

Finding space with suitable infrastructure (power and cooling) to locate advanced computational equipment constitutes another very pressing need. Faculty have been successful in obtaining various types of equipment to support both computational and large data analysis tasks. However, as more and more computer equipment comes in, the problem of where to locate it becomes critical, to the point that equipment may remain unused, or be placed in substandard space where noise and vibration produce unacceptable disturbance to faculty and research staff in neighboring offices. Hopefully this problem will find a solution with the participation of Boston University in the development of a Green High Performance Computing Center in Holyoke.

A renovation and reorganization of the physics front office, similar to what was done in Biology several years ago, would also be highly desirable.

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