Photo gallery Chemical reaction: ‘a huge upgrade’
The recently opened addition to the Chemistry Building on University Avenue is a nine-story tower housing lecture halls, an information commons, offices, teaching laboratories, and group write-up spaces for undergraduate teaching labs.

Photo by: Althea Dotzour
The exterior of the new instructional tower of the Chemistry Building, as seen from the Botany Garden across the street.
Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Students flow out of lecture hall S429 and walk up the red and white marble terrazzo stairs.
Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Linda Zelewiski, senior lecturer in chemistry, teaches students about spontaneous and nonspontaneous reactions in General Chemistry II.
Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Sophomore Shrey Ramesh operates a rotary evaporator, which removes solvents from reaction mixtures by using a vacuum to reduce their boiling point, in the Witting Lab for organic chemistry. “Going from online labs last semester to this in-person lab was a huge upgrade,” Ramesh says.
Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Students in Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry follow along with assistant faculty associate Amanda Buchberger Jones' lecture on one of eight screens encircling Learning Studio 1435. The studio features movable tables with microphones and projection cords that allow students to share their work with the class.
Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Two students in the second semester of general chemistry meet with their teaching assistant in a 7th floor write-up room. Every lab has a connected room to work up data and talk to labmates without wearing protective equipment. The walls and windows are all writing surfaces.
Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Students in Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry work on an independent lab in teams of four where they design their own projects.
Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Students lean over their computers in the Undergraduate Study Lounge in the sub-basement of the new Chemistry Building instructional tower. The artwork hanging above — “Light Source” by artist Bev Precious — is an aluminum and dichroic glass sculpture that hung in the previous chemistry building foyer.
Photo by: Althea Dotzour
One group of students takes notes in a classroom while another participates in a lab in the background in classroom 8845.
Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Students in a lab for the second semester of General Chemistry watch carefully for the liquid in a beaker to turn from blue to yellow as they use titration to identify an unknown base.