After nearly a decade of planning, the Graduate Science Research Center was completed in May 2000. The $36 million building totals 158,000 square feet and, except for the basement, is occupied by the faculty, staff, and graduate students in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

The building was designed from the ground up as a chemistry and biochemistry research building and features a 21^st century system to control fume hoods and other ventilation apparatus. Sensors determine whether a researcher is working in a hood and measure the height to which the hood sash is raised. The hood sensor information and information about the conditioned air supplies and hood exhausts is used by a controller to adjust valves so that flow rates and match exacting health and safety standards. The GSRC uses 100% outside air—there are no air returns—also increasing the safety factor. The hoods have alerts to ask the researchers to lower the sash when leaving the room at night to help conserve energy. The engineered airflow patterns make the building not only much safer, but much more usable than any previous designs.

This state-of-the-art facility has 32 faculty offices, 64 four-person labs, 16 two-person labs, and approximately 70 support areas including instrument space, student and post-doctoral offices, cold rooms, computer areas, and conference rooms. The core facilities of the department—the Mass Spectrometry Center, NMR Center, departmental offices, and stockroom—are located on the first floor for easy access by all researchers.

The faculty, staff, and students of the department were involved in the design from the very first day. This building increases by 75 percent the square footage available to chemistry and biochemistry research, as well as increasing productivity through modern design.