Mills Unveils 'Green' Sciences Building

Oct 12, 09:39 AM

Current Headlines: By Quynh Tran

OAKLAND -- Promoting science education for women, Mills College on Thursday unveiled a new, $17 million interdisciplinary natural sciences building that also incorporated the latest technology in water and energy conservation.

The project evolved from the college's vision of science education and its commitment to the integration of science with the arts, said Mills College President Janet Holmgren.

"Women in science are at the core at Mills," Holmgren said. "The building reflects the college's vigorous commitment to breaking down historical barriers and advancing women to the highest levels of achievement in science."

Shirley Tilghman, Princeton University president and founding director of Princeton's Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, also shared her views on women in science at the dedication ceremony.

Tilghman said that educators and society must understand the obstacles women face in pursuing a science career and to remove those barriers, especially in the way science is taught.

"Is it inspiring or engaging to young girls or actually discouraging?" Tilghman said.

"To restrict our pool of talent by discouraging women or under- represented minorities is to guarantee an outcome where the future of the United States would be significantly less than it could be," she said.

Tilghman said Mills students will be "bitten by the science bug" in the new building.

Mills professor of chemistry John Brabson, who served as the faculty liaison to the design team, called the building a "lesson in itself" where students could see and benefit from the building's environmental features.

The 26,000-square-foot facility, which was built in 18 months, is expected to become one of the few certified "green" buildings in Oakland.

Rainwater is collected from the building's roof and cascades through a series of sculpturally designed leaves into a 2,000- gallon, stainless steel, former mayonnaise container. It is recycled and supplies the building's toilet flush water needs.

Other elements include the use of recycled fiber carpeting, low volatile organic compounds paints to improve indoor air quality, and certified wood to promote sustainable forests.

Since 2005, Mills College has instituted five new bachelor of science degrees, in the fields of biology, biochemistry and molecular biology, biopsychology, chemistry, and environmental science. The college also saw a 25 percent increase in enrollment in its natural science programs.

The building would serve about 200 students and their growing interests in the interdisciplinary sciences.

Environmental science major Grizelda Soto said the building is more than new structure to house students and faculty.

"It feels like a community is being built," she said. "There will be more collaboration and create a better program for women in science."

Contact Quynh Tran at 510-748-1682 or qtran@bayareanewsgroup.com.

Originally published by Quynh Tran, STAFF WRITER.

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