Sparkling new science labs at Chicago Campus to offer new horizons for learning and research

State-of-the-art science facilities in Roosevelt University’s new 32-story vertical campus are nearing completion – and just one look will convince most anyone that science education at Roosevelt’s Chicago Campus will be an intimate, cutting-edge experience.

“We are going to have some of the nicest and newest labs for science students in Chicago,” said Cornelius Watson, chair of the sciences at Roosevelt  (pictured at left in Roosevelt's new chemistry lab). “In essence, the new facility will help make science education more interesting and fun.”

A sense of community is at the heart of new offices, laboratories and research spaces now being completed on floors seven through nine for Roosevelt’s Department of Biological, Chemical and Physical Sciences.

“The goal is to give our department a community feel,” said Vicky McKinley, a professor of biology  (pictured at right below in one of the new biology labs). She has worked closely with construction professionals to design a space with an atmosphere that’s conducive to fostering a tight-knit, hands-on scientific community.  

“It’s a place where faculty and students will immerse themselves together in both learning and research. It will be a catalyst for exciting discussion, experimentation and discovery,” said McKinley. 

There are 10 labs in the new three-floor science center including:  faculty research spaces for biology and chemistry, teaching labs for biology, chemistry and physics, a tissue-culture lab, a microscopy lab and a first-ever research lab just for students.

Most science equipment, including refrigerators, incubators, centrifuges, autoclaves, microscopes and more, will arrive in June. McKinley (at right below) looks over expansive storage cases for chemistry supplies.

One summer course, Cellular and Molecular Biology 301, will be held at the new science facility. Come fall, the new space will be buzzing with faculty and students engaged in scientific inquiry and activity.