BARNARD COLLEGE
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NEWSLETTER
ARCHIVE
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At
the 2007 Nichols Symposium Reception: Prof. Christian Rojas, Prof. Dina
Merrer, Dr. Jacob Alexander, Hello again to alumnae and friends of the Chemistry Department at Barnard. Exams are over and graded, another class has graduated, and another busy summer of research is underway. As always, we want to share with you some of the news of the college, the department, our students, and our many accomplished alumnae. We are always glad to hear from and to see you! NEWS OF THE COLLEGE The biggest news
of the college is the major construction project: immediately following this
year’s alumnae reunion, McIntosh Center is being
"deconstructed", and the
much larger multi-function Nexus will grow in its place. The construction
work has actually been underway since January, because Altschul and
McIntosh, built together, had conjoined infrastructure. The work this spring
created independent services (water, electricity, HVAC) for Altschul. In
addition, all sorts of
The Nexus does not include additional space for the natural sciences, but we are very pleased that another major project is also in development. With partial funding from the Mellon Foundation, a $3M grant that requires three-for-one matching, this project will address space issues for Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Science. The chemistry part of the project is the long-overdue creation of additional faculty-student research spaces. As you may know, when Altschul was built, the Chemistry department had four members, so there are just four faculty office-lab suites, two each on the sixth and seventh floors. The chemistry library space as well as one bathroom will be converted into three new small labs on the eighth floor. In addition, Environmental Science will move their introductory lab to the 4th floor, returning to Chemistry a good-sized 6th floor lab. This will make it finally possible to carry out the desperately needed expansion of the Chemistry Department that was approved in the College's faculty planning process some years ago. The renovations in this Mellon project can be staged; we are pressing for the eighth floor project to move forward on an accelerated timetable. For this to occur, Barnard will need to raise funds to match the Mellon Foundation grant. Parts of the campus are subjected to construction noise from two directions. Columbia is building a new science facility, currently called the Northwest Science Building, at the corner of Broadway and 120th, extending over the gymnasium and connecting with both Pupin and Chandler. Columbia's Chemistry, Biology, Engineering, and Physics departments are all involved. This is probably the last undeveloped spot in the Morningside Campus (if you can call airspace over the gym undeveloped). Plans for Columbia’s future growth involve development of a Manhattanville campus, primarily on the west side of Broadway between 125th and 133rd Streets. The discussions about this very ambitious project have been fascinating. As you may have heard, President Judith Shapiro has announced that this coming year will be her last at Barnard. The college has thrived under her able leadership. The Science Advisory Council (SAC), a group on alumnae who advise the President on issues about science at Barnard, meets twice a year. Dr. Maureen Strafford '71, a pediatric anesthesiologist and cardiologist at Tufts University, is now SAC Chair. We very much enjoy collaborating with her and her group, including a number of alumnae of our department, as they work to support our programs and our students. Neighbors spatially and intellectually, Barnard's Chemistry and Biology departments have always been close partners. Thus we include here a fond farewell to Prof. Jeanne Poindexter who has retired this year. Dr. Poindexter is known for her rigor, her wit, and her dedication to students in general biology, microbiology, and in the research lab. Several biochemistry majors have written senior theses working with Jeanne. click here to continue on to the "News of the Department" section
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offices
and functions are being moved to temporary spaces around campus. This summer
will be very noisy ―foundations going into bedrock ― but by September the
noise should be more manageable. But faculty and student research activities
in Altschul continue uninterrupted. Teaching large classes in Lehman
Auditorium (202 Altschul) next fall is expected to be a bit more challenging
that usual due to construction noise, but Prof. Lessinger (for General
Chemistry I) and Prof. Merrer (for Organic Chemistry II) are preparing to
meet the challenge. We invite you to look at the