Every corner of the new Science Center will foster inward reflection and outward vision, from a series of alcoves large enough for group study to the Grand Atrium – which will open neurosciences will bring together biologists, chemists, and psychologists from across the campus in one of the most interdisciplinary corners in the new facility. A large computer laboratory will make modeling software available to students in biology, environmental science, and geography – creating another opportunity for collaborative study.

The internal structure of the new Science Center will allow physicists and chemists the stability they need for very precise measurement and will put much of the advanced instrumentation in their discipline on display. Integrative Health Science will have lab facilities with access to state-of-the-art biochemistry instrumentation. Geography/Environmental Science will have an important presence in the building in new laboratories and in a shared computer space with biology. An ecology research lab will become a new home to Stetson’s colonies of snakes, frogs, and salamanders, while an aquatic biology lab indoors and an adjacent native plant landscape will encourage undergraduates to think across disciplinary boundaries about minimizing human impact on the environment.

Two large, tiered classrooms, one overlooking the Grand Atrium, will serve as lecture rooms for the entire university community. A coffee kiosk and a satellite exhibit for the Gillespie Museum of Minerals inside the building will add to the appeal of the Grand Atrium. An outdoor classroom and a wide plaza will connect the new building to the rest of campus.

The Science Center will also connect to the natural world. A state-of-the art, 1150-square-foot greenhouse, an outdoor classroom, and a native plant garden will attest to Stetson’s commitment to environmental responsibility. A serious understanding of the natural world requires our getting out in it.

- Terry Farrell, Professor of Biology and Environmental Science, Chair of COMS*S