Chemistry Department Builds New Freshman Labs -

By Jacqueline Jedrych

The Chemistry Department at Catholic University recently undertook a new project for the freshmen chemistry students, new labs for all the freshmen chemistry students. The whole chemistry department is undergraduate, so all resources go towards providing for undergraduate advancement. The project broke ground in August and was completed for use in the 2020 spring semester.

Before the labs were completed in the fall semester, students had very limited use of the old labs. Classes were broken up into halves and staggered use of the labs and classrooms. This system was effective for the short term of the first semester, but inconvenient for students. The chemistry professors and lab managers had to work with the students to make the learning environment functional.

The new labs, located in the basement of the Nursing-Biology building, were designed in part by Catholic University Professor Katherine Havanki to be especially beneficial for the specific needs of Catholic University’s chemistry students. The one large room was built from two old, smaller rooms. In a University Communications article, university architect and associate vice president for Facilities Planning and Management Debra Nauta-Rodriguez said that combining two old spaces into one new lab was a difficult task. The labs feature an open-concept floor plan with movable fume hoods to allow the teaching assistants, lab manager, and professors to see all of the students across the whole lab. Each lab station has a drawer for each section that can be locked to increase the security of the new lab equipment.

The students have expressed appreciation for the new lab design and equipment. It has also allowed for a more traditional lab class, with one class using the lab at the same time.

“I think that the layout of the lab makes it easier to see the teaching assistants and therefore ask them questions because of the way the lab was made,” said freshman pre-veterinarian and psychology and brain sciences major, Bepherly Turcios. “I really like the new labs because they seem more spacious and the instruments we are using in the lab seem to be newer.”

The Catholic University Chemistry Department’s investment into new freshman labs seems to be paying off for science students. The department believes the lab was a solid investment for Catholic University into the Chemistry Department.

“I do think that it was a good investment because as a Pre-vet student I think I will be getting much use from the lab,” said Turcios. “This is also useful for other pre-med students and science major students.”

The Catholic University’s Chemistry Department works to provide its students with the best education it can. Providing all freshman new chemistry labs is just one step of many to come, meant to improve the learning experience of undergraduate science majors.