Carolina Physical Science Complex

Whether they are squinting at stars or molecules, measuring the motion of waves or the flight of insects, Carolina scientists across traditional and emerging disciplines are discovering what new state-of-the- art  facilities can mean for their research and their students.

Max C. Chapman Jr. Hall (pictured above) and the W. Lowry and Susan S. Caudill Laboratories, the first buildings completed in the first phase of the long-awaited $205 million Carolina Physical Science Complex, opened during 2007-2008 just off Polk Place. The complex, the largest construction project in UNC history, will rely on $22 million in private gifts and $84 million from a higher education bond referendum approved by N.C. voters in 2000.

Chapman Hall is named for the 1966 College alumnus who gave a $5 million gift to support the new 130,000-square-foot building. Chapman, chairman of Gardner Capital Management Corp. in New York City, is a legendary figure in the futures and options industry on Wall Street. He has also served nearly 20 years on the UNC-Chapel Hill Foundation’s Investment Fund, which he has chaired for the past decade.

Chapman Hall offers lecture halls, laboratories and offices for faculty and students in chemistry, mathematics, marine sciences, and physics and astronomy, as well as the Institute for Advanced Materials, Nanoscience and Technology.

Researchers who study and manipulate molecular materials on the nanoscale (which can be 100,000 times narrower than a strand of human hair) rely on high-tech instruments that are susceptible to the smallest interference. In their old labs in Phillips Hall, vibrations came from cars and trucks pulling into a nearby parking lot, from power lines feeding nearby Peabody Hall, and even the building’s window air conditioners and steady foot traffic.

Rich Superfine, Bowman and Gordon Gray Professor in the department of physics and astronomy, has found that the data from a microscope he uses to examine single molecules of DNA in studies of blood clotting is “considerably quieter” in the new facility, he said. “The better measurements I think will allow us to better determine the forces involved when cells divide and help us understand the process of clotting better.”

Chapman Hall’s central ventilation system also means more controlled conditions for these and other instruments that 21^st century science requires, said Laurie McNeil, professor and chair of the department of physics and astronomy.

Another exciting feature of Chapman Hall is a new 4,500-square-foot fluids laboratory, including a 120-foot long wave tank and a wind tunnel, which will allow for new collaborations between the departments of mathematics and marine sciences.

For nearly a decade, applied math researchers had relied on a 350-square-foot fluids lab in Phillips Hall.

The physical design of the new complex makes it easier for scientists to connect and collaborate. Now, marine sciences faculty will be able to meet with colleagues in applied math by simply walking down a flight of stairs or crossing a bridge that connects Chapman Hall to Phillips Hall.

For chemist Mike Ramsey, whose group studies the emerging field of nanofluidics, the new space in Chapman means eliminating a daily hike between his former office in Kenan and labs in Venable. Ramsey has received a $3.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to further develop his “lab-on-a-chip” technology for faster and cheaper human genome sequencing.

Chemists are also envisioning  collaborative projects in the W. Lowry and Susan S. Caudill Laboratories, their new 146,000- square-foot home connected to the adjacent Kenan Laboratories by a bridge and an open plaza.

Lowry Caudill, a 1979 chemistry alumnus and entrepreneur, gave a major gift for the new building and the Royce Murray Quadrangle, the largest of the green spaces planned for the complex.

The Caudill building features laboratories for chemists; a special “high field room” with seven nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers, which are high-resolution imaging tools; a “clean room” for nanoparticle synthesis in the lab of Joseph DeSimone, William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor; and numerous common areas for students and faculty to interact with each other.

Caudill agrees that one of the science complex’s biggest assets is the way the layout encourages conversations. The quadrangle honors Caudill’s Carolina mentor, longtime chemistry professor Royce Murray, whose 45-year career has been marked by extraordinary achievement as a scholar and educator.

The second phase of the Carolina Physical Science Complex will include an addition to Sitterson Hall for computer science, scheduled for completion during 2008, and the replacement of Venable Hall with two, new state-of-the-art buildings to be completed around 2010. “New Venable” will be occupied by chemistry and marine sciences. Marine sciences will move out of Chapman in late 2010 or early 2011 — and that space will then be filled by physics and astronomy, and mathematics.

Both Caudill and Chapman add improved teaching space in the project’s first phase. All of the classes formerly taught in Venable, including chemistry classes, are now being taught in Chapman’s new lecture halls and classrooms. And classses on entrepreneurship for scientists are being held in Caudill Labs, as part of the College of Arts and Sciences’ involvement in the Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative.

Labs for undergraduate astronomy classes are also being taught in Chapman, where telescopes have been set up on the rooftop observing deck. The new space allows the department of physics and astronomy to teach these labs at the optimal time — after dark.

The first floor of Chapman includes a glass-walled room where astronomers, aided by undergraduate and graduate students, can remotely control telescopes UNC uses in Chile and South Africa. The room, four times the size of the old observing room, puts astronomy on display. Students passing by can observe their peers using high-tech instruments to study the night skies.

Expanded space and high-tech facilities have also made it easier to attract high-caliber faculty.

-- By Angela Spivey. Reprinted from Carolina Arts & Sciences magazine, Spring 2007.