Office of Public Affairs

Julie Harrison Blissert

July 30, 2003

(315) 312-2265

MOVE AFOOT TO REVITALIZE SCIENCES AT OSWEGO

A fresh breeze is stirring among the science disciplines at Oswego that is bringing a new cross-disciplinary perspective to six departments in Piez and Snygg halls.

A year-long lecture series beginning in September will be among its first effects. If current plans materialize, renovated science facilities, a Lake Ontario Research Center, and a broader understanding of science will enrich the college's learning environment in years to come.

The impetus for revitalizing the sciences at Oswego, which is part of a national trend at colleges nationwide, came when the Campus Concept Committee proposed a steering committee for facilities renovation in the sciences and mathematics, said Sara Varhus, dean of arts and sciences. "The programmatic concept drives the building concepts," she said.

The committee began meeting over the winter to address programmatic needs. "The overarching concept," biology Professor Al Lackey said, "is to focus on interdisciplinary activities, particularly among the faculty and their research, and to promote more broadly based introductory courses. We're trying to broaden students' view of science."

Students often do not understand how interconnected the disciplines are, Lackey said. "I know in my research (on deer mice) there are easily half a dozen fields I've had to call on — geology, paleontology, climate."

A group is meeting this week to firm up plans for the new multidisciplinary lecture series. Earlier discussions proposed that every other Wednesday at 4 p.m. a speaker would address a topic that could be expected to interest any student in the sciences. Lackey suggested that a chemist might talk about automobile fuels of the future and a physicist might address the effects of radiation on space travel.

Each of the six departments — biology, chemistry, computer science, earth sciences, mathematics and physics — would present two speakers, one from within the department and one from off campus, during the course of the year.

A grant proposal for a Lake Ontario Research Center at Oswego, one of a number of such centers linked through the Great Lakes Research Consortium, would create a model of interdisciplinary research in Snygg Hall, Varhus said. Prospects for federal funding brightened recently when Congressman John McHugh put LORCO on his priority list, said Carolyn Rush, deputy to President Deborah F. Stanley.

The center would house Oswego's existing environmental research programs as well as provide an incubator environment for companies involved in the renewable energy industry on the Great Lakes, especially wind energy, according to the feasibility study. The study was funded by a grant that Jim Pagano of Oswego's chemistry department and Environmental Research Center received from the Great Lakes Research Consortium, according to Jack Narayan, director of research and sponsored programs.

The project calls for renovation of part of one floor of Snygg Hall in its $3 million first phase. Its second phase would create an addition on the north side of the building that could house modern science laboratories, Lackey said.

He noted that Snygg Hall dates from about 1970 and Piez Hall was built in 1961. "There's been no major modification to either building," he said. "They are very old for science buildings."

Colleges nationally did a lot of building in the 1960s, Varhus said, and many find themselves in similar shape. "We're not alone," the dean said.

This was underscored when a subgroup of Oswego's steering committee on the sciences attended a Project Kaleidoscope workshop at Drury University in Missouri in the spring. The project is a national volunteer alliance working to transform undergraduate programs in the sciences, technology and mathematics. It focuses on the future of science and science education and on how science facilities can best be structured. Oswego was one of about 30 institutions represented at the workshop.

"There was a lot of practical advice as well as inspirational ideas," said Lackey, who was one of six Oswego representatives who attended.

The discussions and planning now under way will ultimately have an impact well beyond Piez and Snygg halls on campus. "We're interested in expanding the science horizon for everybody," Lackey said.

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