|
|
|
10
THINGS TO DO IN THE NEW LINCOLN AND EDMUNDS BUILDINGS
|
 |
Pomona College's newest pair of academic buildings were
dedicated March 2. Check out our list of 10 things for students to do in
the Lincoln and Edmunds buildings, once all of the
departments are set up and settled in:
1) Spit. Whoa, now. Let us explain. The
Psychology
Department's new space includes a Saliva Room, to be
used by Professors Nicole Weekes' and Richard Lewis' students to gather saliva
samples for their research on how examination stress
influences health, memory and brain activity. They collect
salivary samples during times of high and low test-stress,
analyzing them for stress and immune markers such as cortisol. See, it's all very scientific.
 2)
Lounge a bit -- with a purpose. The buildings include
nine lounges, one for each department, to encourage the sort
of casual academic interactions than can lead to
intellectual breakthroughs, friendly debates or
stress-relieving fun.
3) Watch the waves. Once everything is in place, the
Geology Department's new Hydro Lab will include a
20-foot-long, six-foot-high wave tank to help students
understand the process of beach erosion. With Pomona's
Southern California location, it's easy for Professor
Linda Reinen to bring students to locales such as
San Onofre
State Beach as part of their research. But the wave tank
will allow students to see more of the erosion process, as
they watch what goes on under water.
4) Write on the walls. Again, let's explain. The
hallways and labs of the
Computer Science Department are covered from floor to
ceiling with dry-erase wall boards, allowing near-endless
space for students to scrawl. Professors arrive in the
morning and discover what students have been thinking about
the night before. The writings sometimes reach beyond comp-sci
into chemistry, economics, music and far beyond. "It has
proved both to be academically valuable and an interesting
sociological window into our students' lives and interests,"
says Professor Kim Bruce.
5) Catch a view. Look north from the third floor of
the Lincoln Building and you'll discover a sweeping view of
north campus, the city of Claremont and the towering,
snow-capped
San Gabriel Mountains. Feel relaxed? Now get back to the
books.
 6)
Save the planet. The buildings' green-friendly features
range from rooftop solar panels (seen at right) to waterless
urinals to nearby carpool spaces, all designed to earn the
U.S. Green Building
Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED) silver certification. Construction involved the
elimination of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) and halon
refrigerants and the use of recycled materials and rapidly
renewable materials, such as the bamboo flooring used in
parts of the buildings.
7) Go acoustic. The new audiometric testing room,
which reduces noise and optimizes acoustics for sound
recording, will be used by
Linguistics and Cognitive Science
Professor Mary Paster in her work studying phonetics as well as dying
languages and dialects. Paster concedes the room can be a
tad eerie at first. "It's completely dead,'' she says.
"There's no echo at all. I've never experienced anything
like it."
8) Try on a funky visor. In Professor Martin
Hackl's
Eye Tracker Lab, research subjects will sit in front of
a computer screen, donning a visor-like piece of equipment
that holds two tiny cameras and a small infrared light. By
tracking the movements of his subjects’ eyes as they respond
to questions involving the on-screen imagery, Hackl searches
for new understandings of how the mind works and of the
relationship between thought and language.
9) Play. OK, OK, it's actually the tykes who get to
enjoy the toys or practice social or cognitive tasks in the
new child development research room overseen by Psychology
Professor Patricia Smiley. Your job is to observe from
behind the one-way mirror. The new room is larger and offers
more sophisticated DVD-recording equipment than what the
College had before, according to Smiley.
 10)
Be inspired. In the Lincoln Building, the
Intercollegiate Department of Chicano/a Studies
is home to "The Struggle for a Home," a mural created by noted L.A. muralist
Paul Botello, who teaches here. The vibrant mural tells
the story of the successful effort to create a Chicano
Studies Department at the Claremont Colleges during the
tumultuous '60s. Rody Lopez '09 likes to hang out in the
glass-walled study room where the mural is displayed. "The
first few days I just kept staring at it," says Lopez, who
decided to become a studio art major after taking one of Botello's classes.
Photography by Kevin McPhee '07
Read
more about the buildings
Finding
your way around |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quick Links |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Explore Pomona's Web |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Find It |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Search |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
