Bowie State University continued their 150th year anniversary by holding a groundbreaking May 11 for the new Center for Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Nursing building set to open in the spring of 2017. The new science building will take the place of the old Wiseman Student Centre, which was demolished.
Construction has already started for the new 148,995 square-foot building for students studying math, engineering, nursing, biology,chemistry, physics, and physical sciences. There will be 15 classrooms and 14 teaching labs in this new establishment.
The research lab suite will be an environment for chemistry, biology and physics, which will include core labs for microscopy, spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR.) The building will have an iconic cylindrical, glass-walled multipurpose room with a signature feature that will serve as a visual of the university’s commitment to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and nursing education.
“In order for us to attract the very best faculty in the STEM disciplines, we need to have a facility that will make it easy for them to teach and to do their research, which is part of the process to enhance their teaching,” Bowie State University President Dr. Mickey L. Burnim told the AFRO.
The Nursing Education wing of this center will include three functional suites for realistic simulation environment, standardized patient exam rooms and clinical skills areas, with the equipment that students and professors need to support the full range of experiences for nursing education.
The glass-walled laborites in this new facility will allow anyone who enters it to take a look at students and professors while they are working. Many of the classrooms will be adaptable to grow or reduce in size to match changing needs across the disciplines. All of the classrooms will be designed to implement active learning or lecture-based models. For the engineering labs, which will be connected to 3-D printer rooms, students will have the opportunity and access to watch their computer-aided designs without having to leave their computers.
“This facility will be something that faculty love to work in and I think it help us in the recruitment of faculty,” Burnim told the AFRO. “It will also help us in the recruitment of students, because when students see the kind of facility that we have and the labs they will be able to work in, study in, and the professors they will be able to work with, they will more likely to choose to come to Bowie State University and to choose the STEM disciplines.”