Refreshed Lab Spaces for Siedle Professors

The Chemistry Department, with support from the College of Arts and Sciences, recently completed a nearly $2M project to renovate and refresh more than 5,700 square feet of lab space and 1,800 square feet of office space on the second floor of the Chemistry Building to facilitate the research groups of Veronica Siedle Professor Chemistry Jose Goicoechea, Veronica Siedle Associate Professor Erich Bloch, and Professor Jeremy Smith.  Laboratories A228, A230, A238, A240, and A248, along with offices A232, A236, A242, A246, and A250A-C were constructed as part of the 1989 addition to the Chemistry Building and housed the research groups of Professors Mookie Baik, Ken Caulton, George Christou, Dongwhan Lee, Jeremy Smith, Lee Todd, and Senior Scientist Lyudmila Bronstein. Lab A254 was last remodeled in 1987 and had hosted part of Professor James Reilly’s group.   

The A250 office suite was refreshed in Fall 2022, and the new lab spaces were designed throughout the spring of 2023.  Demolition of the old lab equipment commenced in April 2023.  Construction was completed in mid-October.  Labs A228-A248 had all of their cabinetry, plumbing fixtures, and 20 fume hoods replaced.  The formerly cavernous room A254 was divided in half with the southern end reconfigured to support synthetic inorganic and electrochemical research.  The latter space required adding utilities connections to support four relocated fume hoods.  All spaces were refreshed with new floors, paint, and energy efficient LED lighting.   Members of the Bloch, Goicoechea, and Smith groups started setting up experiments and commissioning equipment in the new spaces immediately after the project was completed.  

See the bottom of 2022 Alumni Journal Building Notes page to see how the spaces looked prior to this renovation.