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Architect’s renderings of the Academic Mastery Program Center, left, and a renovated teaching lab in Norris Hall of Chemistry.
Built in 1960 and renovated in 1990, Norris Hall of Chemistry received a $6 million renovation to its ventilation system in 2016, addressing long-standing concerns about the HVAC system. But the mid-century teaching and research labs—central to Occidental’s hands-on approach to teaching and research—are no longer equal to the task, science faculty say. Once both phases are completed, the renovation of Norris will include not only expanded and redesigned teaching labs, but stateof-the-art faculty research labs and offices on the second and third floors; new spaces to encourage collaboration, creative thinking, and problem solving among students; and the entirely new AMP Center for Oxy’s peer-led program that promotes excellence in biology, physics, and math as well as chemistry. One of the nation’s largest philanthropic organizations, the W.M. Keck Foundation supports outstanding science, engineering and medical research. For the last decade, the Foundation has been a generous supporter of the sciences at Occidental, helping to fund a new genomics center, research equipment for marine biology, and underwriting the summer research program. The Norris renovation project is based on designs by JFAK Architects, whose work can be seen at Caltech, UCLA, and Claremont McKenna College, and GL Planning & Design, which has previously worked with UC Berkeley and Stanford, among others.
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A $5 million gift from the W.M. Keck Foundation will support the launch of a multi-phase renovation of Kenneth T. Norris Hall of Chemistry, with construction expected to begin in 2024. The Keck gift will help fund the first phase of the project, which will see the underutilized basement turned into state-of-the-art teaching laboratories and the creation of the Academic Mastery Program (AMP) Center on the ground floor, a flexible indoor/outdoor space that can be used for classroom teaching, lectures, or receptions. With an estimated price tag of $22 million for the first phase of the renovation, Occidental needs to have secured 80 percent of the funding, or $17.6 million, to commence with construction on the project. Renovation of Norris Hall of Chemistry was one of the top recommendations of Occidental’s Science Task Force, a 34-member group of alumni, parents, and faculty who assessed the current state of the sciences and science facilities at the College and issued a detailed report in October 2021. The needs are substantial on a campus where 40 percent of students are pursuing degrees in the sciences. Today, more Occidental students major and minor in the sciences—chemistry, biochemistry, biology, physics, cognitive science, computer science, geology, and kinesiology—than in the social sciences or arts and humanities. Almost two-thirds of science majors are women, and 40 percent are students of color.
Images courtesy JFAK Architects
EXIT INTERVIEWS AND THANK-YOUS: PROFESSORS BESEMER, GELBART, AND SAINT-AUBIN /// SENIOR REFLECTIONS FROM 10 STUDENT-ATHLETES
Building Tomorrow’s Scientists
The Future of Science Young Scientists to Watch:
Namandjé Bumpus ’03 Will Reeves ’16 Nicole Leung ’11 Amelia Muscott ’22 Jason Preble ’14 and 13 more inside!