Students support the SEC

Dear Editor:

The new Science and Engineering Complex currently slated to be placed on Square 55, between H, I, 22 and 23 streets, is a much-needed academic space for the science and engineering departments. Currently, the various science disciplines are spread across the Foggy Bottom Campus, making it difficult for them to interact effectively. Creating one home for all of these departments will not only allow each individual department to proceed most efficiently, but it will allow the various scientific disciplines to interact with each other more effectively. This new facility will provide state-of-the-art equipment and technology in its new research labs and will allow undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral programs to perform research in their own facilities within one building. By bringing the classroom together with the research lab, science and non-science majors alike will get a premium experience using this facility.

By housing all of these departments within one building, the University will foster a greater desire for scientific study among the GW and Foggy Bottom communities. The SEC will help GW achieve its goal of providing additional academic space on the Foggy Bottom Campus. The construction of this facility will allow for growth in GW’s overall prestige.

Sincerely,

Jason Cherchia

-The writer is a senior majoring in political science and is the coordinator for Campaign GW.

Dear Editor:

I am writing to voice my adamant support for the new Science and Engineering Complex, currently planned to be built on Square 55. As a student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, I have seen firsthand just how necessary the project is. The current engineering facilities in Tompkins Hall are inadequate, to say the least. Both the classrooms and the building itself are antiquated and lack the modern technology required if the program is to become world-class. Needless to say, the new facility would allow such growth to occur. Furthermore, the facility would bring all of the science and engineering departments into one location, instead of being scattered throughout Foggy Bottom, as they currently are. This would streamline interdepartmental collaboration and research, thereby making each student’s learning experience much richer.

In addition to the educational benefits of the new facility, the project would also provide valuable environmental benefits. The facility is targeted to receive LEED Silver certification and be a carbon-neutral site. In achieving these milestones, the University’s sustainability goals would be furthered in a particularly visible location. By making the SEC such an environmentally friendly facility, a mindset of sustainability will be engendered in the students and faculty learning and working within it.

Sincerely,

Winslow Sheffield

-The writer is a freshman majoring in mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Editor’s note: These letters are two of about 20 The Hatchet received. A student group provided fact sheets and encouraged its members to write letters in support of the Science and Engineering Complex. The group, Campaign GW, historically works to solicit support for various aspects of GW’s 20-year Campus Plan.