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Pomona College Dedicates New Energy-Conscious Biology
Building
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Pomona College, one of the nation’s premier liberal arts
colleges, will dedicate its new Richard C. Seaver Biology
Building (175 W. Sixth St., Claremont) on Saturday, February
26, at 11:30 a.m. The building is one of the only college
buildings in the state to
be built to the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design) Green Building standards.
 The $23.5 million biology building was designed by the firm
Bauer & Wiley and built by Hensel Phelps Construction. The
design achieved the college’s environmental goals by
maximizing natural light filtration with large windows,
light shelves and a three-story glass atrium and through the
use of high efficiency indoor lighting, photovoltaic panels
for solar energy, certified renewable wood, recycled
construction materials, low-emitting materials (e.g.
adhesives, carpet), and a thermal energy storage system that
will help the college to reduce energy use during peak
demands, among other features.
The result is a building that exceeds California
energy-related design codes by 10 percent, yielding an
estimated $75,000 per year in energy savings compared to a
building that meets current Title 24 energy requirements. By
early summer, the college hopes to complete a silver
certification by the U.S. Green Building Council's system
(often referred to as LEED standards), placing the building
in the top one percent of all academic laboratory buildings
in the country in terms of energy-conscious design. The
building opened for the start of spring semester classes in
January.
“The Richard C. Seaver Biology Building will allow Pomona to
continue our leadership in undergraduate science education,”
says David W. Oxtoby, president of Pomona College, noting
that the college sends a higher percentage of its science
graduates to earn Ph.D.s than does almost any other American
college or university. “The exciting part of science happens
in the lab, and the new, larger research labs will allow
even more students to collaborate with faculty and conduct
hands-on research. That we were able to make the investment
in an environmentally sound biology building is a testament
to the vision and commitment of our Board and to the Seaver
family, which has supported science education at Pomona for
more than 50 years.”
The 46,270-square-foot, three-story building contains four
teaching labs, two classrooms, four greenhouses, 15 faculty
offices, instrument rooms, two student lounges, sterilizer
and glass washing rooms, incubator rooms, darkrooms, walk-in
cold (or warm) rooms, sterile glass transfer rooms and
common-use facilities. Currently 56 undergraduate students
are working with biology faculty on research projects
ranging from plant physiology and genetics to molecular
biology and neuroscience.
According to Biology Professor David Becker, who served as
the department’s representative to the building committee,
the new building was also necessitated by a dramatic change
in the way biology is taught compared to 1959 when the
Seaver Laboratory for Biology and Geology opened. “Even 20
years ago, biology was largely a descriptive body of
knowledge that students had to memorize. Today, students
learn how something works or how it came to be through
experiments. Courses emphasize student application of
scientific inquiry, reading what’s known, designing a
hypothesis, doing experiments and analyzing their own data.
This all starts in their freshmen year. In the 1950s,
molecular biology didn’t even exist.”
The new biology building was named after Trustee Emeritus
Richard C. Seaver '43 to recognize his many decades of
exceptional service to the College as a trustee and honorary
trustee. Funding for the building was made possible in large
part by a gift from the estate of Frank R. Seaver ‘05,
Richard's uncle, as distributed by the Seaver Institute. As
the newest component of the Seaver Science Center, the
Seaver Biology Building is one of many buildings on the
campus that speak to the family's generosity and legacy.
Pomona College is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts
institutions, offering a comprehensive program in the arts,
humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. Its
hallmarks include small classes, close relationships between
students and faculty, and a range of opportunities for
student research. Visit Pomona College on the Web at
www.pomona.edu.
EVENTS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Dedication Ceremony, 11:30 a.m.
Thomas D. Pollard ’64, the Higgins Professor of Molecular,
Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale University, will
be the guest speaker
Richard C. Seaver Biology Building, 175 W. Sixth St.,
Claremont
Biology Building Tour, Noon
Richard C. Seaver Biology Building, 175 W. Sixth St.,
Claremont
Symposium, 2 p.m.
Presentations from Pomona College biology faculty David
Becker, Andre Cavalcanti, Karl Johnson and Nina Karnovsky.
Seaver North Auditorium, 645 N. College, Ave., Claremont
For more information about the events, call (909) 621-8141.
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