Date Set for Arts and Sciences and Engineering Colleges to Host the Groundbreaking for New CBEC Building on June 18, 2012

Mark your calendars for the groundbreaking ceremony for the CBEC (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry) building, to take place on June 18, 2012, at 4:00pm, at the construction site between 19th and Woodruff, at the southeast corner of the Physics Research Atrium space. Invitations will soon be arriving in your mailboxes from President Gee, inviting you to join us for this important event. Other events are being planned to work in conjunction with the groundbreaking, so watch our website for more news and activities on that date.

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry (CBEC) Building

The new 225,000 gross sq.ft. Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry (CBEC) Building will be located in the Academic Core North at the current locations of Boyd, Haskett, Johnston, and Aviation, which will be demolished. This location is in the heart of science and engineering neighborhood and will create laboratory space with the proper floor-to-floor height, structural dimensions, and environmental stability to support intensive research. The total project budget is $126 million. The building also will adopt the sustainable design practices by Labs 21 in addition to a LEED Silver minimum.

The proposed new CBEC building complex is conceived as a community of scientists, engineers, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and technical staff working collaboratively in the areas of research strengths in Chemistry and Chemical Biomolecular Engineering (CBE): (1) nano/bioscience and technology, (2) energy-related materials, (3) energy and the environment, and (4) theory, modeling, and simulations.

After construction is completed, there are 42 proposed faculty members and their research teams who will enjoy modularly designed laboratories, forming large contiguous blocks of space with clear connectivity and an openness that facilitates cooperation intended to promote a comprehensive, interdisciplinary research enterprise at the interface of chemical sciences and engineering through the integration of basic science and engineering research strengths. In addition, the cohabitation by design of these two disciplines in a new research facility represents the growing emphasis placed on building interdisciplinary research programs across multiple departments and colleges within the university's "One Ohio State Framework."

These facilities are not intended to simply replace existing laboratory facilities already available to faculty in Chemistry and CBE but will substantially upgrade and expand them to enable a strong focus on interdisciplinary research.