Future chemistry students will no longer have to struggle with outdated facilities, which not only present safety issues but may also discourage new faculty from coming to Iowa State.

The chemistry department is planning the construction of a new building across the street from Molecular Biology and northwest of Gilman Hall, the department’s current home.

The building is being funded by money from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust, the state of Iowa, and private donations. The budget for the project is $74.5 million. “Currently the chemistry facility is very old and very outdated,” said Ann Wilson, senior director of communications for ISU Foundation. “It just needs new technology and new resources.”

“Because our facilities are very poor, many of them are not suitable for teaching and research, and because of that, we are having a difficult time in competing with our peers in recruiting and retaining faculty,” said Jacob Petrich, professor and chairman of chemistry.

Some other members of the chemistry department no longer consider the old building adequate.

“We just have problems with maintaining the mechanical systems to ensure everything operates safely,” said Keith Woo, professor of chemistry, “and in terms of other aspects, our old building doesn’t have some of the utilities to handle new equipment and we are just short the space we need for our department. We’ve been struggling with deficiencies with the infrastructure of Gilman for decades.”

The new building will be three floors and 135,000 square feet, Woo said. The basement will be used for analytical and physical research. The first floor will house undergraduate teaching laboratories. The second and third floors will have synthetic research laboratories and office space for faculty.

The department will continue to use Gilman Hall, and some of the space in Gilman will be renovated in the future. About a third of the faculty will move to the new building and other space in the building will be allocated to new hires.

One benefit of the new building is its potential to help attract new faculty.

“It’s going to make it easier for us to hire people,” Petrich said. “Hiring is a problem for us. Our faculty numbers are dropping because of retirements. We need to replace people. It’s hard to hire people in inadequate facilities.”

Woo said groundbreaking was scheduled for May 2008 and the building would hopefully be finished by August 2010. The architects are Ellenzweig in Massachusetts – the same architects working on additions and renovations for Coover Hall – and OPN Architects Inc. in Des Moines.

“I’m delighted. We’re thankful that the new building is going to happen,” Petrich said. “The chemistry department has needed a new building for decades and we are very happy that we have the support of the president, the provost, and the dean of L.A.S. to make this happen.”