With that in mind, the university is embarking on a multiphase project to overhaul its science facilities.
The university is calling the project “Driving Discovery.” It will include renovating old facilities, new construction and a beautification aspect to transform the look of the north side of the Danforth Campus.
Barbara Schaal, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences, is the university’s point person on the project.
“We need to be extraordinary,” she said. “That’s the goal I have.”
The project could take between 10 and 15 years or longer, she said.
More than just a construction project, it’s an effort to rethink how researchers of different disciplines collaborate, university leaders say. Getting that right involves re-examining how buildings are designed and how the campus is laid out.
But those are longer-term goals. In the more immediate term, the project is about fixing what’s outdated.
The first phase will begin in January with Bryan Hall. Until recently, the building housed certain departments for the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Built in 1965, the plan is to transform it into a modern chemistry facility with a mix of laboratory space, classrooms and meeting areas.
Construction is scheduled to begin this summer. The renovation should increase the five-story, 59,000 square-foot building’s research space by 25,000 square feet.
The university will also build a skywalk connecting the fourth and fifth floors of Bryan Hall to next door McMillen Hall where the existing chemistry facilities are housed.
Renovations are estimated to cost around $42 million. The project is expected be completed by May 2018.
The project is equal parts practical and aspirational.
“The challenge with chemistry is that it’s equipment-rich and technology-rich,” Schaal said. “There’s lots of work done with lasers. Everything has to be precise. You can’t be in a building with vibrations or a lack of (adequate) climate controls.”
The newly renovated Bryan and McMillen halls should also help the university recruit. In the case of sports and research, universities are increasingly committing large sums of money to build eye-pleasing and up-to-date facilities in an effort to attract top talent.
“We are going to bring in well-established stars,” Schaal said.
Along with stars, colleges across the country are big on collaboration.
“The best way to do innovation is to talk to people who don’t do what you do,” Schaal said.
For instance, Timothy Wencewicz, an assistant professor of chemistry is working to slow down the spread of infectious diseases.
Wencewicz explains that discoveries in antibiotics essentially peaked in the 1950s and 1960s, meaning that infections that could be cured in a matter of hours in 1950 have now evolved to the point where they are resistant to modern antibiotics. They are called superbugs.
His research is about attacking superbugs in new ways.
“Instead of trying to kill the bug, which just breeds resistance, we take a different strategy,” Wencewicz said. “We let it live, but we starve it out from its resources. Once you starve it out, it can’t proliferate. And then, once your body’s strong enough, your immune system can take it out.”
The idea behind “Driving Discovery” is that putting chemists, physicists and biologists in close proximity will lead to greater scientific breakthroughs.
“More space, more faculty, more students, more science. That’s the recipe,” Wencewicz said. “This is a huge win on all fronts.”
In addition to the renovations to Bryan and McMillen halls, Washington University is planning to replace the pedestrian bridge over Forest Park Parkway with a new one designed to improve handicap accessibility and provide safer shared access for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The university has not yet announced details for phases two and three of “Driving Discovery.” Schaal said many of those details have not been finalized.
The overarching goal, she said, is for the university to one day transform the entire northern boundary of the Danforth campus.
©2016 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.