Science Building to celebrate 25th anniversary
Heather Nelson
Issue date: 2/23/10 Section: News
Science and math faculty will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the construction of the University of Dallas' Patrick E. Haggerty Science Building March 16 through 19.
The celebration will begin on Tuesday, March 16, with a display of math and science alumni's biographies. At press time, negotiations were underway for Anouseh Ansari, the first Iranian woman in space, to speak at the University on Tuesday. Ansari's company has funded technology development toward manned space travel targeted to non-governmental areas.
Wednesday will feature a display of math and science clubs in Haggar Foyer, and an alumni panel discussion later in the evening. The panel will share their experiences as math and science students with current UD students.
On March 18 at 5:30 p.m., there will be a dinner for math and science faculty, the Haggerty family and UD trustees.
On March 19, the celebration will culminate with an open house with open labs and student research presentations.
In the biology labs, DNA gels will be analyzed in the biology department's new DNA analyzer. In the exercise and physiology lab, biology students will demonstrate motion capture and movement analyses. The biology research lab will be displaying its collections of bird specimens and fossils.
The chemistry lab will be demonstrating different chemical reactions such as pennies into gold, gummy bear oxidation, chemiluminescence, burning money, Nerf ball cannon, and exploding balloons.
"These are interesting reactions that sometimes give surprising results," said Dr. William Hendrickson of the chemistry department. "Last year I burned up my twenty dollar bill. That was definitely a surprise."
Physics students will perform optics demonstrations.
At 7 p.m., the band ArcAttack! will perform on the mall, in addition to UD bands. ArcAttack! will perform with two custom-engineered, hand-built Tesla Coils, which act as instruments that sound like rudimentary synthesizers. The Tesla coils also throw out electrical arcs up to 12 feet long.
At 9 p.m., the observatory will begin an open house so that people can come and look through UD's telescopes.
Dr. Richard Olenick, physics professor at UD for 30 years, described the site of the future Science Building as "a big dirt lot." Before the building was built in 1985, the physics department used to be in the basement of the Blakley building. The math department was in the basement of Braniff, where the economics department is now. The chemistry and biology departments used to be housed in Carpenter Hall, in the current modern languages and classics department.
There was no money to purchase telescopes when the Science Building was built, Olenick said, so they built the dome. It took two more years for UD to raise the money for the telescopes.
Come out March 16 through 19 to celebrate 25 years of math and science in the Science Building!
The celebration will begin on Tuesday, March 16, with a display of math and science alumni's biographies. At press time, negotiations were underway for Anouseh Ansari, the first Iranian woman in space, to speak at the University on Tuesday. Ansari's company has funded technology development toward manned space travel targeted to non-governmental areas.
Wednesday will feature a display of math and science clubs in Haggar Foyer, and an alumni panel discussion later in the evening. The panel will share their experiences as math and science students with current UD students.
On March 18 at 5:30 p.m., there will be a dinner for math and science faculty, the Haggerty family and UD trustees.
On March 19, the celebration will culminate with an open house with open labs and student research presentations.
In the biology labs, DNA gels will be analyzed in the biology department's new DNA analyzer. In the exercise and physiology lab, biology students will demonstrate motion capture and movement analyses. The biology research lab will be displaying its collections of bird specimens and fossils.
The chemistry lab will be demonstrating different chemical reactions such as pennies into gold, gummy bear oxidation, chemiluminescence, burning money, Nerf ball cannon, and exploding balloons.
"These are interesting reactions that sometimes give surprising results," said Dr. William Hendrickson of the chemistry department. "Last year I burned up my twenty dollar bill. That was definitely a surprise."
Physics students will perform optics demonstrations.
At 7 p.m., the band ArcAttack! will perform on the mall, in addition to UD bands. ArcAttack! will perform with two custom-engineered, hand-built Tesla Coils, which act as instruments that sound like rudimentary synthesizers. The Tesla coils also throw out electrical arcs up to 12 feet long.
At 9 p.m., the observatory will begin an open house so that people can come and look through UD's telescopes.
Dr. Richard Olenick, physics professor at UD for 30 years, described the site of the future Science Building as "a big dirt lot." Before the building was built in 1985, the physics department used to be in the basement of the Blakley building. The math department was in the basement of Braniff, where the economics department is now. The chemistry and biology departments used to be housed in Carpenter Hall, in the current modern languages and classics department.
There was no money to purchase telescopes when the Science Building was built, Olenick said, so they built the dome. It took two more years for UD to raise the money for the telescopes.
Come out March 16 through 19 to celebrate 25 years of math and science in the Science Building!
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