The Board of Trustees gathered this Thursday, March 25, for a ribbon-cutting ceremony of the new Science Initiative Building.
The new $100 million building provides students and researchers access to one of the most technologically advanced facilities in the nation.
“This building actually was part of my inspiration for coming here to this university, as I hope it will be for others as we go forward,” President Seidel said at the ceremony.
“Knowing that this place had this support and knowing that this building was representative of this interdisciplinary approach to science.”
The President, along with the Board of Trustees, looks to prioritize not only the integration of engineering and science with the new building, but also the arts and humanities.
“Science and engineering can come together with other areas; social sciences, arts and humanities,” Seidel said. “People sometimes call it not STEM but STEAM where you have arts, humanities and social sciences. This building could be a place where these things come together.”
The Science Initiative building, along with several other new buildings along the northwest end of campus, work together in the hopes of propelling the university to R-1 status through the Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Educations.
“This science initiative is like a plant. Through the leadership of Senator Nicholas, Governor Freudenthal, Dr. Carol Brewer, a former alumnus, and a faculty leadership team, they came up with the seed, which is the Science Initiative,” said Associate Dean of the Department of Botany, Greg Brown.
“We planted that seed and fortunately, the governor, the legislature, and I at the time, decided to water and get it to germinate.”
“What I want you to realize when you walk through the building, is that the Science Initiative is not just this building. It’s the full plant, which has the potential to be a gigantic, massive keystone species in our environment.”
An R-1 university is the highest rating through the Carnegie Classifications.
R-1 universities tend to have very high research activities and, accordingly, expect professors to be primarily involved in research.
There are currently 146 universities that fall under the R-1 category according to the Carnegie website.
In the past, UW ranked 149 according to Carnegie rankings, but has dropped to 180 in recent years.
Students attending R-1 universities have access to the most cutting-edge technology and latest research.
R-1 status universities also hold leverage to pull in highly-qualified educators, due to the R-1 universities capabilities to support research endeavors.
The Science Initiative program is one endeavor, paired with future plans, to reinstate UW to an R-1 status.
“These groups realized reaching the goals of top tier status required facilities like this was also recognized that rebuilding on its own would not be enough,” Director of the Science Initiative Mark Lyford said.
“Rather, we had to approach everything in a truly transformational way and support these new endeavors through programs that would support our students and faculty.”
“Student Success and faculty success were key drivers of this initiative,” Lyford said. “It’s going to support a whole new era of teaching, research and service that’s going to support our city.”
