COSAM News Articles 2018 September “Topping Out” Celebration for the New Leach Science Center Addition

“Topping Out” Celebration for the New Leach Science Center Addition

Published: 09/04/2018

By: Maria Gebhardt

A “Topping Out” Celebration was held on Friday, August 31, 2018, and marked the significant milestone of all of the concrete being poured for the construction of the new Leach Science Center Addition. 

The $24 million, 62,500-square-foot project includes new classrooms on the first and second floors.  The first floor will also include open group study areas.  More students will be able to participate in astronomy classes and sky-watching events.  “Students will have the ability to learn about astronomy with 18 remote-controlled telescopes mounted on a rooftop terrace,” says Dr. James Hanson, Chair of the Department of Physics. 

Don Thurlow, a senior project manager with Rabren General Contractors, was in eighth grade when he first visited the original Leach Science Center on a field trip to Auburn University.  “It is an incredible feeling to have grown up in the community, walked through this structure as a child, and now be part of the team that is constructing the new center for future generations,” he explains.

Students will be able to attend classes, conduct experiments and study in the new center.  Brad Prater, a campus architect in the Office of the University Architect at Auburn University, shares, “This project showcases natural light to help increase cognitive learning of students.”  

Dean Nicolas Giordano of the College of Mathematics and Sciences met with various project stakeholders at the special event and is proud that faculty and students will soon be using this facility.  “The new Leach Science Center will offer an unprecedented opportunity for collaboration and research in the Department of Physics with undergraduate and graduate students learning in the same building, plus state-of-the-art laboratories essential for ground-breaking research.”

The new Leach Science Center is set to open during the Spring 2019 semester.  Watch live webcam footage from the construction site.  

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