Calvin News

DeVries Hall 
DeVries Hall (left) has been constructed with research in mind. Teaching and research labs are at the heart of De Vries Hall and both teaching and research will be a big part of the work done in the building. In fact, faculty and students in the Calvin sciences now will have about 60 percent more space for research. And much of that research involves Calvin undergrads working side-by-side with Calvin faculty. 
Those labs encompass a variety of complex areas of research. 
The Chemistry labs include such areas of study as laser chemistry, computational chemistry and environmental chemistry. The Biology labs include two state-of-the-art cell culture labs and an equipment room containing superspeed centrifuges, an ultra-low freezer, a DNA sequencing system and ultrapure water systems. DeVries Hall also includes an attached 900 square foot greenhouse, a 600 square foot museum to house herbarium specimens and an insect collection and an aquarium room. 
Students will find working in DeVries Hall a breath of fresh air - literally. The whole building is served by a computer-controlled air circulation system that brings fresh air into the building and conditions it to 55 degrees farenheit before it is routed to the individual labs for further temperature control. Once used, lab air is sent directly to the exhaust system. Exhaust air is diluted with fresh air and ejected well above the building through three, stroboscopic fans and exhaust stacks designed to minimize noise to the local campus and community. 
The air system maintains negative air pressure in laboratories ensuring that all lab air goes through the fume hoods to the exhaust system. Fume hoods (several of which are handicap accessible) feature state-of-the-art controls which automatically increase the air flow when the sash to any of the hoods is opened, a feature known as variable-air-volume. A sensor at each hood warns users when hoods remain open (high air flow) after hours to encourage users to keep air flow to the minimum needed to maintain a safe lab environment. A heat recovery system extracts heat from the exhaust air and transfers it to the intake air saving some of the energy required to bring outside air to 55 degrees. 
Even the physical construction of the building was handled with the sciences in mind. While Calvin's old Science Building (built in 1967) was constructed using steel girders, De Vries Hall was built entirely of concrete - 300 truckloads of concrete to be exact! This was a significantly more expensive process but a better one for minimizing structural vibrations - an important feature in a building which will house microscopes and other vibration-sensitive instruments. 
More on the West Michigan Regional Lab
One of the key areas in DeVries Hall for research will be the West Michigan Regional Laboratory, wholly owned by Spectrum Health and Calvin College. This almost 20,000 square foot facility will replace three existing facilities -- two housed presently at Spectrum and one at Calvin. 
The new WMRL provides short-term and/or long-term housing of animals for education and research. The lab includes a quarantine room and separate spaces for surgery, recovery, radiography, fluoroscopy, non-operative procedure, diet preparation, clinical treatment and animal observation. There are two surgery rooms (each adjacent to a scrub room) with four adjustable veterinary operating tables, laprascopic equipment, laser (including water-cooled) equipment, IV infusion pumps and more. 
It is expected that education will make up about 80 percent of the use of the WMRL. Local surgeons will use the WMRL for such things as surgical techniques, microsurgical training and practicing new surgical procedures. 
Since the late 1950s animal use has been an important component of medical education and research in the Grand Rapids community. With over 300 medical residents, Grand Rapids has the largest graduate medical education training program of any city its size in the U.S. without a university hospital. The new WMRL will benefit those medical residents. And it will benefit already established West Michigan doctors.
Read an October 1999 Chimes story on the WMRLRead an April 2001 Chimes story on the WMRL
More on the Prince and Vermeer Engineering Centers
The new Calvin College Engineering Building will actually be two Centers - the Prince Engineering Design Center and the Vermeer Engineering Project Center. Each Center is 6,000 square feet; the two Centers are connected by a walk-through display lobby. 
"This new building certainly will enhance our efforts at Calvin College," said Engineering department chair Rich De Jong. "It will be a boon to the work of our students and faculty. It will allow our Engineering department to compete on a national level. And it will result, I am sure, in cooperative ventures with the West Michigan community beyond what we're presently doing. The impact of this facility will be significant." 
These two new Centers will enable the Calvin College Engineering Department to maintain, and expand, its reputation as one of the finest programs in the country. Last fall Calvin added a new concentration in Chemical Engineering to its existing trio of concentrations in Mechanical, Civil and Electrical and Computer. All four concentrations result in a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree and are accredited by ABET - the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. 
Outside advisors assist many of the department majors. For the new degree in Chemical Engineering, for example, the college created a Chemical Engineering Advisory Council. 
As one might expect from an Engineering faculty, a lot of thought has gone into the design of the new building. The major building systems - such things as structural, heating and cooling and electrical - will be used to teach. Strain gauges on the roof trusses will allow load-deflection and stress-strain analyses; instrumentation on the air handling unit and thermocouples applied to the wall surfaces will allow thermodynamic analyses of the building; electrical power monitoring devices connected to a computer-based data acquisition system will allow remote analysis of the energy usage. 
Two areas will enable civil engineers to work with systems considerably larger than currently possible in the basement of the Science Building. A Wet Lab is part of the Vermeer Engineering Project Center and can house large scale hydraulic systems. A Design Yard will be located outside the southwest corner of the building as a place for testing bridge components and solar powered systems. 
The Prince Engineering Design Center will include a special test facility for acoustics and vibration testing. Calvin professors have done such work previously with funding from such places as Ford Motor Company, Westinghouse Electric Company, Northrop Grumman and the Office of Naval Research with Calvin students participating side-by-side with their professor in the work. 
With the new test chambers even full size automobiles can be tested in a controlled laboratory environment. The acoustics and vibration test facility will consist of two adjacent rooms - one with hard, reflecting walls and one with soft, absorbing walls. 
Calvin's existing metal and wood shops have been moved to the Project Center, thus allowing easy access to the tools and machinery needed to assemble senior design prototypes. The shops, which will continue to service the needs of the science division and maintenance personnel, are designed with a 10-foot clearance below the mezzanine joists to accommodate large machines such as milling machines. The interior shop walls are designed with glass panels to provide high visibility and isolation of the noise and particles. 
A student club office is part of the complex, while a 1,900-square-foot mezzanine, located above the machine shop, will be devoted entirely to a student study area with tables, chairs, computer workstations, vending machines and reference materials. 
Part of the overall project was to upgrade the existing mechanical building with a new boiler, a new cooling tower and a student viewing area. The upgrade will provide heating and cooling for the Engineering Building and DeVries Hall and it will display a functioning power plant for students and visitors to see. As with the Engineering Building, the mechanical equipment will be instrumental as a teaching tool. 
More on the Sciences at Calvin College
Calvin's Science Division has experienced significant growth in recent years, adding several new departments and full four-year major programs in Computer Science, Biochemistry, Nursing, Geography and Environmental Studies, Geology and Engineering -- which has just introduced Chemical Engineering as its fourth area of concentration to complement existing concentrations in Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. 
Also, just added this month (October 1999) was a new major in Biotechnology! 
As a result, the number of students majoring in the sciences -- approximately 1,000 -- now is almost 25 percent of the student body -- a 48% increase since 1975. Those majors often leave Calvin and head to graduate school. About 50 percent of Calvin's chemistry majors, for example, have gone on to Ph.D. programs over the last three years. And Calvin ranks in the top 20 nationwide among all four-year private colleges for number of graduates who go on to earn their Ph.D. in any discipline. 
Also, Calvin science faculty (all of whom have their Ph.D. degrees) are bringing in significant outside grants for equipment and research. Calvin ranks sixth in the nation among undergraduate institutions for National Science Foundation Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement grants. 
Calvin science faculty currently have over $2 million in multi-year research support from such organizations as the National Institutes of Health, Research Corporation and the National Science Foundation, as well as several industries. This research has been productive. In the past five years Calvin faculty have published almost 100 papers with more than 55 students included as co-authors. Calvin faculty collaborations with industry have flourished. For example, Engineering professor Rich De Jong does vibration analysis for Ford, John Ubels studies artificial tears for Alcon and Curt Blankespoor tests dust mite eradication products for Bissell. 
Schedule for Dedication Weekend 
Wednesday, October 20, 1999 at 8 p.m. - A lecture by Dr. Fred Adams, Associate Professor of Physics at the University of Michigan and author of "Five Ages of the Universe." To be held in Room 30 of the Science Building. 
Thursday, October 21, 1999 from 7 to 9 p.m. - A reception for "Inside Out: A Historical Look at Medical Imaging." To be held in the Center Art Gallery on campus. 
Friday, October 22, 1999 from 12:30 to 1:20 p.m. - A lecture by Dr. George VanderWoude, Director of Research at the Van Andel Research Institute. To be held in Room 30 of the Science Building. 
Friday, October 22, 1999 at 3:30 p.m. - A Dedication Service. To be held in the Calvin College Chapel. 
Friday, October 22, 1999 at 4:15 p.m. - A Reception. To be held on the Commons Lawan. 
Friday, October 22 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. - Tours and demonstrations in DeVries Hall and the Prince Engineering Design Center and the Vermeer Engineering Project Center. 
Saturday, October 23, 1999 at 10:30 a.m. - The Naming Ceremony for the John "Doc" DeVries Hall of Science. To be held on the DeVries Hall South Terrace. 
Saturday, October 23, 1999 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. -- Tours and demonstrations in DeVries Hall and the Prince Engineering Design Center and the Vermeer Engineering Project Center.
NOTES TO MEDIA
Pictures of the new buildings can be found here
The Dedication Weekend page can be found here
DeVries Hall trivia can be found here