ODU’s new state-of-the art chemistry building removes roadblocks to student success

Norfolk — John Cooper has nearly worn out a pair of shoes showing off Old Dominion University’s new, state-of-the-art chemistry building.

In an elevator, somewhere between the four floors of the $76 million building, Cooper lifts a foot to reveal flattened tread.

“I’ve probably given, like, 150 tours,” he says.

It would be hard to find anyone who knows this place better. Cooper, chair of ODU’s chemistry department, played a major role in its design — from labs to instruments to atmosphere, including details only the science-minded would even notice.

Like the overhead lobby lights, which are shaped in forms of molecules. Or the way corridor ceiling tiles were cut to resemble lines found in the spectra of atoms. Or that an exterior section of brick was laid in a pattern that spells “ODU,” using the symbols for oxygen, dysprosium and uranium.

The embedded chem-speak is a subtle feature in a setting that aims to be a mecca — a launchpad for success in a subject that often acts as a roadblock.

“The failure rate is extremely high in chemistry,” Cooper says. “It’s the filter, the No. 1 reason students change their major.”

But chemistry is core study for a swath of fields — medicine, dentistry, engineering, all the sciences. Before now, ODU’s program has been based in a 1966 building with antiquated labs, cramped quarters and scattered offerings.

“We’ve been working in 28 locations around campus,” Cooper says. “It’s hard enough for freshmen to just find a classroom, much less tutoring or problem-solving sessions. That was frustrating.”

Visibility is a key part of the new floor plan. Huge windows and glass walls increase natural light while reducing the intimidation factor. Professors, classes and research are all easily observed from corridors.

Tables and chairs cluster in nooks and crannies to nurture conversation. And if a light-bulb moment occurs, there’s usually a white board nearby to write on. If not, it’s OK to mark up the windows with formulas, or even the walls. Many have been specially surfaced to erase clean.

At the heart of the state-funded facility: the laboratories. More elbow room, better instruments and equipment, a workflow designed for efficiency, safety and control of experiments and processes that often have a volatile streak.

Cooper starts naming some of the high-tech instruments, a mouthful of acronyms and terms indecipherable to laymen — many of which seem to end with “ometer.”

Boiled down: All students can get hands-on with some really cool tools, getting experience that can propel careers. And top-tier research and teaching talent will be drawn to ODU.

Universities compete to attract the most promising.

“The brightest young minds get a lot of offers,” Cooper says.

The state’s public universities and colleges also vie for the taxpayer dollars that build such facilities. Money is usually awarded through acts of the General Assembly, with guidance from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, or SCHEV.

SCHEV director Peter Blake says that while there’s no database of exactly which schools have received what over the years, the goal is to prioritize projects by greatest need and divvy up available funds across the system fairly.

“I can tell you that Old Dominion has done very well,” Blake says, adding that institutions in general have enjoyed more support under The Virginia Plan, an initiative launched two decades ago to make the state a leader in higher ed.

About 5,000 undergrads will make use of ODU’s new chemistry building every year, Cooper says — about 20 percent of the student body.

Added bells and whistles include a planetarium that will double as a lecture hall, with the second largest dome in the state.

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Also, an eco-friendly footprint.

Primary architects on the building, which is located on Elkhorn Avenue: SmithGroup, an international firm that also designed The Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach.

Laboratories, loaded with exhaust hoods to remove fumes, “are typically high-energy consumers,” says Lori Cappuccio, who led the firm’s ODU team. “We came up with mechanical strategies to help offset that.”

The doors will open to students in the fall. It’s been a long time coming.

“When I first got here, I was told we’d be getting a new chemistry building in the next year or two,” Cooper says.

That was 30 years ago.

Joanne Kimberlin, 757-446-2338, joanne.kimberlin@pilotonline.com