Holy Cross Announces Plans for Science Complex

WORCESTER, Mass. – This spring, the College of the Holy Cross will launch the first phase of construction of a new $60 million state-of-the-art integrated science complex.

Designed to offer many more opportunities for interdisciplinary teaching and learning, the new complex is the most ambitious building project in the College’s history. From the sharing of sophisticated equipment to the evolution of new research teams, the new complex is being developed to unite student and faculty researchers from across scientific disciplines and to stimulate new, collaborative approaches in the Holy Cross acclaimed undergraduate science curriculum.

Announcing the building project, Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., Holy Cross president, said, “This new and renovated facility will sustain Holy Cross’s great tradition of producing outstanding scientists, educators, policy-makers, and health practitioners. By integrating our science buildings on campus, we’re acknowledging the interdependence of the sciences and mathematics, and their importance as components of the top-caliber liberal arts education that distinguishes Holy Cross.” Fr. McFarland, president of the College since 2000, is a computer scientist.

The project will be undertaken in two phases: construction of a new four-story building that will be linked to the existing science and social science buildings on campus (Beaven, O’Neil, and Swords halls), followed by the complete renovation of Haberlin Hall.

Groundbreaking for the new building will take place in the spring. The 44,000-square-foot building will house lecture and lab space for chemistry students, as well as research laboratories for approximately half of the chemistry faculty. Occupancy is expected in January 2009. Immediately thereafter, top-to-bottom renovation of Haberlin Hall will begin. The 45-year-old building will be gutted and completely rebuilt, with an expected completion date of January 2010.

A showcase feature of the new science complex will be a dramatic transformation of the atrium that currently links Haberlin and Swords halls. The open, light-filled space will not only offer access to laboratories, offices, and classrooms, it will also be a venue for more student and faculty interaction with a multitude of meeting and study areas, communal space, and dining possibilities.

The new complex will also be designed with the highest standards of energy efficiency and innovative environmentally-friendly construction, such as an energy recovery wheel to capture and reuse heat from air being exhausted from the building. In addition, the College will be seeking LEED certification for the complex. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) “green” building rating system is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance “green” buildings.

Considerable investment will also be made in sophisticated heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems; and the new facility will offer improved safety and access for all students, faculty, and visitors, including those who have disabilities or other special needs.

Project architect is the Boston firm of Einhorn, Yaffe & Prescott. Construction manager is Bond Brothers, of Everett, Mass.

With an estimated total cost of $60 million, the project will be funded by internal reserves, a bond issue, and contributions from alumni, friends, corporations, and foundations. In effort to raise substantial funds for the project, a lead gift has been received from an alumnus. Details will be announced in the coming months. Locally, Worcester’s Fuller Foundation, Stoddard Trust, and Alden Trust have already contributed more than $1.575 million toward the project.

The science building project reflects the priorities in the College’s five-year strategic plan, recently endorsed by the Holy Cross Board of Trustees. The plan cited the need to modernize Haberlin Hall and to create “new opportunities for interdisciplinary science teaching and research.”

The new facilities will support the “discovery-based” teaching that is a key pedagogical feature in physics and chemistry labs at Holy Cross, long a hallmark of the College’s curriculum.

Holy Cross has a tradition of scientific excellence. Holy Cross graduates include Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Murray, M.D. ’40, who performed the first successful kidney transplant; James A. Shannon, M.D. ’25, the first director of the National Institutes of Health; Joseph P. Kerwin, M.D. ’53, the first physician in space; Joyce O’Shaughnessy, M.D. ’78, co-director, Breast Cancer Research for US Oncology; Jane Hawkins, Ph.D. ’76, former chair of the American Mathematical Society Committee on Science Policy; James J. Collins, Ph.D. ’87, professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University and recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant; and Anthony Fauci, M.D. ’62, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Today, scores of Holy Cross students are actively engaged in original scientific research on campus, during the academic year as well as through the growing number of summer research fellowships. Holy Cross students applying to medical school are accepted at a rate of 82 percent, one of the highest percentages in the nation.

The commitment to science education at Holy Cross also extends into the Worcester area, with many community-based programs. For more than two decades, Holy Cross has offered intensive science education programs for Worcester Public School teachers and students. Students from the Nativity School of Worcester benefit from regular interaction with Holy Cross science students and faculty. In addition, the College has well-established research partnerships with Worcester organizations such as the Regional Environmental Council, the EcoTarium, and the Blackstone River Coalition. The College hosts the offices of the Blackstone River Coalition and is in the process of establishing the Blackstone Collaboratory, which will be a collaboration of regional natural scientists, mathematicians, historians and economists.

For more information and renderings please see the 2006 President's Report.