Science Initiative Advisory Committee (SIAC) Lunch Meeting Friday, October 16, 2009 Noon to 2:30 p.m., AH LLSL Lunch will be provided. An agenda will be sent to all members in advance of the meeting. Members of the SIAC who are unable to attend the meeting at the stated date and time, as well as those who wish to suggest a particular agenda item, are asked to contact Chuck Frydrych at frydrcha@aquinas.edu
Mohler-Thompson Summer Lunchtime Schedule Weekly BYO-Lunches Wednesdays at noon, AH 205.
Science Initiative (SI) Focuses on Albertus Hall Upgrade The SI process began in the spring of 2004 with the intention of supplying equipment, scholarship, and endowment support to the departments in the Natural Science Nursing and Mathematics Division (NSNM). To date, over $600,000 has been raised for the purchase of new science equipment while over $3,500,000 has been contributed to endowments that provide science scholarship support and undergraduate summer research programming. It has been a productive five years. The SI has begun to visualize the next five years in the life of the NSNM Division and its students. An upgrade to Albertus Hall was recognized, early in the process, as a vital necessity. Dedicated in 1959, the building was renovated in 1989 with an office tower added to its west end. Since that time, the building has served the division well but needs revitalizing in order to meet modern performance standards.
Larry Erhardt, a member of the Science Initiative Advisory Committee conducted a walk-through of the facility and subsequently suggested that an outside firm be commissioned to conduct a building analysis. The URS corporation in Grand Rapids was chosen to conduct this analysis and Brian K. Craig, a URS architect, began the creation of a comprehensive time line and project budget. Simultaneously, Mark Custer of Custer Workplace Interiors was asked to design options for the laboratories, classrooms, and the main lecture auditorium of Albertus Hall. We should see the fruits of these labors before summer’s end. At that point in time, a comprehensive plan to meet the facilities needs of the NSNM Division should be in hand, the project’s costs established, and a time-line for the project’s completion determined.
Students and faculty participating in this summer’s Mohler-Thompson Research Scholars Program will meet regularly through the months of June and July to discuss their efforts. Those interested are invited to attend.
BE SURE TO CHECK… for a fuller description of all of the research activities taking place during the summer of 2009 view www.aquinas.edu/research
Spotlight on . . . Dr. Elizabeth Jensen has been in constant motion since her arrival on the Aquinas campus in July of 2003, but this year may be her busiest yet. Not only has she just been selected as chairperson of the Chemistry Department, she was also granted tenure and promoted to the rank of associate professor. This summer marks the sixth time she has mentored student researchers with her recent investigations focused on synthesizing a series of twelve liquid crystal compounds from transition metals and long-chain alkylammonium ligands. James H. Carrow (’10) graduated from Sparta High School in 2001 before serving as a Search and Rescue Swimmer in the U.S. Navy and then earning his associates degree at Grand Rapids Community College. Now a senior majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry, he intends to teach AP biology at the high school level after completing a graduate degree in biology. He is spending this summer as a MohlerThompson researcher under the direction of Dr. Thomas Bahl investigating the mating habits of cockroaches. This Science Initiative Newsletter is distributed in November, March and June
www.aquinas.edu
Volume 1, Issue 3