Queens community members recently gathered to sign a steel beam that will be used in the new Rogers Science and Health Building now under construction.

The Rogers Building will be the first Platinum LEED certified building on the East Coast. The $18 million facility will offer 56,500 square feet of classroom, office, and meeting space.

When it opens in fall 2012 it will be home to the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Math, and Environmental Science, and the Blair College of Health. There will be classrooms and laboratories for classes in biology, chemistry, physics, environmental science and geology. All academic departments across campus will benefit from the new building, through use of general purpose classrooms and a 100-seat Duke Energy Auditorium.

Additional space will be devoted to a greenhouse where students can manipulate plant growth conditions and environmental factors in ways not possible in a traditional laboratory, and an adjoining herbarium. The greenhouse will be able to simulate desert and humid tropical environments, enriching the learning experience.

While this extraordinary Platinum LEED certified facility will be directly involved in teaching about environmental conservation, it will also be demonstrating conservation, as the abundance of green design features ensures that students learn both in and from the building.  Its "green wall" with plants native to N.C. will help keep the building cool, for example.  Also, a display board in the main lobby/entrance that will generate information related to how the building is using energy. Wood culled from trees that were removed to make way for the new building will be incorporated throughout its design, and art in the building will reflect the beauty and significance of the sciences.

We are thrilled that this state-of-the-art building will provide a facility that matches the high quality of our science and health faculty, students and programs.

Located at the intersection of Selwyn and Radcliffe avenues, its design will mirror that of the existing Sykes Learning Center to the south on Selwyn, providing "bookends" on the far corners of campus. The Rogerses and the Duke Energy Foundation separately gave major gifts that made this project possible.