<p>So....what's the status on the new science building? Have they started construction, or what?</p>
<p>When I went to visit, they had stopped for a while, or at least slowed down, because of how the economy has been. From there, all I know is that it’s going to mirror the new MSB building.</p>
<p>anybody from campus with any news about it? Georgetown’s website is doing a terrible job of giving updates!</p>
<p>status is on hold… I believe the administration said until the economy recovers…</p>
<p>at least the new MSB building is going to be open for classes (and everything else) from this summer on!!!</p>
<p>Have they been any more specific than that? “Until the economy recovers” could be years!!!</p>
<p>They are laying down the foundation and the utilities for the new science building. So it’s obviously going to be built, or else the foundation will start to deteriorate. I think they plan on starting up construction at the beginning of next year if all goes as planned. The economy has stabilized a bit since the drop.</p>
<p>This is terrific news. I graduated from G’town many years ago and am now a science professor at a competing institution (we compete for undergrads, that is). My school has a far better reputation than G’town in the sciences, but the reason for this is clear. The science departments, at my school, are housed in a far nicer building than Reiss!! In my opinion, the science professors at G’town are much more committed to undergraduate education than any other school in the top 25 (with the possible exception of Dartmouth and Princeton). But G’town sciences get a bad reputation because they are housed in a building which looks like it should be condemned!!! This is so unfortunate, and it’s nice to know that the administration is FINALLY doing something about this.</p>
<p>Disap -
What was your largest class as a science major at Georgetown (other than the intro Bio and Intro Chem)?</p>
<p>largest class outside of Intro Chem and Organic Chem was…let me think (it’s been awhile)…probably Physical Chemistry. If I recall, that had a little over 20 students (all undergrad chem majors and some first-year graduate students).</p>
<p>Intro Bio, Chem, Organic Chem, and Physics all have about 150 or so students. Upper level classes depend on your major. Chemistry upper levels will typically have anywhere from 5 to 20 or so. Biology upper levels will have more. Genetics is required for Bio, and has about 80-100 students. Biochemistry (the Bio department version) is also in a similar range. Then you’ll get into the real upper level courses, such as Cell Biology, which has about 15-20 students, Immunology, which has a similar range, etc.</p>
<p>Hey Hoyas. Any updates on the new Science Building?</p>
<p>There’s a giant patch of dirt over there- that much I can tell you. There is evidently still work ongoing, but, besides the informative-looking posters inside the current Reiss Science Building, I don’t know much else. Here’s some pictures of the design from the construction company:</p>
<p>[Whiting-Turner</a> - Georgetown University, New Science](<a href=“http://www.whiting-turner.com/projects/georgetown-university-new-science.html]Whiting-Turner”>http://www.whiting-turner.com/projects/georgetown-university-new-science.html)</p>
<p>Any updates on when this building will be completed?</p>
<p>It should open in fall 2012, at least according to what O’Donnell is saying. See [Science</a> Center Underway | The Hoya](<a href=“http://www.thehoya.com/news/science-center-underway/]Science”>Science Center Underway – The Hoya) Given the way large building projects tend to go, though, don’t count on it.</p>
<p>The Science Building… HAHA. They moved dirt around for the first semester. We got a few million in Stimulus money to help with construction, but keep in mind that the new MSB cost 82.5 million… We’ll see.</p>
<p>[Vox</a> Populi » On the record with John DeGioia: A full transcript of his student press meeting](<a href=“http://blog.georgetownvoice.com/2010/01/25/on-the-record-with-john-degioia-a-full-transcript-of-the-presidents-meeting-with-student-press/]Vox”>http://blog.georgetownvoice.com/2010/01/25/on-the-record-with-john-degioia-a-full-transcript-of-the-presidents-meeting-with-student-press/)</p>
<p>Voice: My next question—I know you were speaking briefly of the university finally being able to break ground on the science center. Is there a target date for the completion of the facility? Does the University still need additional philanthropy and borrowing to finance the project to the end?</p>
<p>DeGioia: We’re going to need both but we have a pretty good feel about what it’s going to take. In the end it’s going to be about $98 and a half million dollar project, close to the original projections. So the overall economic conditions are benefiting us in a way because the building’s going to be a bit cheaper, we got guaranteed maximum prices. I think from the perspective of project management, the project’s already underway. It won’t be obvious for a few more weeks when things start really getting churned up but the work that needs to be done is ongoing right now … We’ve finished guaranteed maxium price for the project which locks in what the cost will be, and now we’ll move forward, we’ve raised $25 million to date and that was our original goal … we’re gonna borrow additional money which is not unusual. We typically will borrow for some projects. We didn’t need to borrow for the Performing Arts Center and we didn’t need to borrow for the Business School building itself but we always projected we would do some borrowing for the science center. Our goal right now is to raise more funds from philanthropy and were going to keep at that for a while … we expect that the building will open in the fall of 2012 … so class of ’13, there you go … should be there for you. So the idea is by your senior year, we’ll be opening it.</p>
<p>Bottom line was that the stimulus grant was so encouraging and from our perspective, it’s as if it were a gift. So it’s $7 million more beyond the $25 million we raised. We’re going to keep trying to raise more money and we’re pretty confident we’re going to be able to raise some more money. That combination gave us enough sense that we should move forward now. We were originally going to begin construction October 1, 2008, but the financial crisis hit September 2008. We just felt it was too uncertain—the credit markets had seized up, we weren’t going to be able to borrow, we weren’t sure about future philanthropy, so we decided to let’s hold until the conditions became more stable. In the end, it took us roughly 15 months for us to be confident in the conditions. And the stimulus money is sort of what put us over the top in terms of having the confidence to move forward.</p>
<p>Does anyone have an update. Or due date for when the Science building is slated to be finished?</p>
<p>Fall 2011/Fall 2012 I think was what I’ve heard…</p>