As part of The University of New Mexico’s homecoming week festivities, the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (CCB) hosts an open house Friday, Nov. 5 from 2-4 p.m. to celebrate the newly renovated Clark Hall. The campus community is invited to take a guided tour of the beautiful building, hear about some of the groundbreaking research being conducted by faculty and students and enjoy some light hors d'oeuvres.
The Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology is one of the oldest departments at UNM having become an academic unit in 1913. The department currently has 21 faculty (including 3 Distinguished Professors), 13 technical and office staff, and 50+ graduate students. The newly renovated Clark Hall has 38,116 Gross Square Feet (GSF) of renovated space, including offices, laboratories, and teaching spaces, with all new teaching laboratories and a facelift for the main lecture hall. The renovations provide offices for additional faculty, new shared spaces for undergraduate and graduate students, and expanded teaching labs for upper-level students, and updated research labs in the Reibsomer wing. Project costs of $16 million were funded by a General Obligation bond in 2018.
The project began program verification in May 2019 and completed design in May 2020. Construction started in June 2020 and despite delays due to COVID-19, renovations are nearly complete. Clark Hall has been designed as a “LEED Silver” certified facility. These renovations support UNM’s chemistry teaching and research missions.
Each year, CCB serves thousands of students from more than 20 different UNM degree-granting programs. Many of these students apply to the UNM Health Sciences programs including medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and dental hygiene. Nearly all of the students in the College of Engineering take general chemistry, and chemistry courses are also part of the requirements for College of Arts & Sciences programs in Chemical Biology, Biology, Physics & Astronomy, Earth & Planetary Sciences, and Biology. The department offers BA, BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees, with graduate research focus areas in chemical biology and photonic and electronic materials. Our students come from across New Mexico, the western U.S., and the world. CCB graduates find careers in medicine, industry, and research here and across the U.S.
Immediately following the open house, Assistant Professor Brian Gold will talk about his research program in organic chemistry in Clark Lecture Hall 101.
For more information, visit UNM Chemistry and Chemical Biology.