Columbia College’s science department has grown substantially over the past six years. With this growth, the department must try to keep up, such as, mentioned in my story running Sunday, a new science building.
When interviewing Julie Estabrooks, chairwoman of the science department, she got the chance to give me a tour of the current facilities used to teach science courses.
When the photographer, Estabrooks and myself entered the Robnett-Spence Center, I was not sure what to expect. We walked down the hall past the only bathroom in the building to have lab coordinator Laura Coe unlock the two upstairs classrooms used for the chemistry lab and upper-level biology.
The chemistry lab room wasn’t very big at all and, to be honest, like quoted in my story, not any better than my lab I had for chemistry in high school. The fume hoods, used for ventilation purposes, instead of being above what needed ventilation, were crammed in the back corner of the room, blocked by supplies. At campuses like MU, the fume hoods reside every lab pair directly above the experiment table, Estabrooks said.
The upper-level biology classroom was not much either, with more crammed up supplies, filling a lot of the space.
After the tour of the upstairs, the three of us traveled downstairs to the student research room, which wasn’t much bigger than a walk-in closet, cluttered like the other rooms.
The general science lab room looked like a classroom. The instrument room provided additional lab space for chemistry and other courses, but it could be a safety hazard, due to the fact that an instructor is forced to travel back and forth between two classrooms, Estabrooks said.
After the tour of that building, we walked down the road to the Science Lab Annex, where additional classes are held. Microscopes are stored in kitchen counter like compartments, and Coe mentioned that they have to bring over distilled water from the other building for experiments.
My story has sources discussing why the Columbia College science department needs a new and improved building.
