THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2013
CAMPUS
Engineering expansion to destroy Burt Hall
REID EGGLESTON reggleston@kansan.com
A building formerly associated with the Cold War and nuclear weapons will be demolished this summer as a casualty of the ongoing expansion of the University's School of Engineering.
Burt Hall, constructed in the late 1950s, once served as the University's home of radiation and nuclear engineering programs. It originally housed a nuclear reactor active through the 1970s and the peak of the Cold War.
"The engineering school and biophysics departments here used the radiation sources from the mid-'60s through the '70s," said Mike Russell, director of the University's Department of Environmental Health and Safety. "After that time, the school wasn't really engaged in that kind of research anymore, so the reactor was decommissioned and the numbers in radiation programs curtailed"
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Today, Burt Hall houses offices for chemical and petroleum engineering professors, administrative
offices and Russell's Department of Environmental Health and Safety Services. Those with offices in Burt will move out to various locations on Main and West Campus by May 1.
Howard, the School of Engineering communications coordinator
As a part of the
The new building is an experiment in the University's innovative "flip classroom" learning. Students
"...we had a number of engineering firms in Kansas City come to Topeka and say, 'We need more engineers.'"
state's initiative to increase the number of engineers across Kansas, the space that Burt leaves will be occupied by a new facility that will wrap around the future Materials, Measurements, and Sustainable Environment Center and Learned Hall, according to Cody
JOANN BROWNING School of Engineering associate dean
in the facility's six new classrooms will sit at tables of five colleagues rather than at desks to promote collaboration on projects and boost information-sharing. Students will also see a shift to lecture material posted online so that they can pose questions about the material in class.
The $80 million dollar project is set to open on campus in the fall of 2015. An additional building devoted to large-scale testing will
be completed on West Campus in the fall of 2014, all of which are part of the School of Engineering's Building on Excellence Initiative, designed to augment the number of engineering graduates by 60 percent.
"Before a bond issue on this facility in 2009, we had a number of engineering firms in Kansas City come to Topeka and say, 'We need more engineers'," said School of Engineering associate dean of administration JoAnn Browning. "In response to that, we have about half the funding for this new facility coming from the state."
The Building on Excellence Initiative is already underway as the new Materials, Measurements and Sustainable Environment Center will open next fall to engineering students. Modifications to other buildings are also a part of this ever-evolving plan. Spahr Engineering Library, following the model of Anschutz Library, will devote more of its resources to collaborative learning, including more group study space and availability of staff to help students with engineering-related problems.
While final design plans for the new facility will be announced May 1, Browning encourages students to remain active in the planning process through the building's completion.
"We're still looking at furniture options," Browning said. "We want to know what chairs and couches around the building will help students relax and, yet, learn the best. We're always looking for student input, because that's who we're building this for."
Edited by Elise Reuter
CAMPUS
Environs launches 'Take Back the Tap'
EMILY DONOVAN
Reusable water bottles is Environs' next step to save the planet — or, at least, the campus. Environs, the student organization dedicated to promoting environmental awareness and activism, launches its Take Back the Tap initiative tomorrow night to move toward a disposable bottle-free campus.
edonovan@kansan.com
The initiative will provide infrastructure to sustainably provide safe, filtered water with a term that college students can relate to: free stuff. Six hydration stations will be implemented in the most highly trafficked areas, including the Underground, Budig and Anschutz this fall. Environs also plans to hand out thousands of stainless steel water bottles during Hawk Week to encourage students to carry their own water bottle
throughout the day rather than purchase bottled water.
"It's socially irresponsible of us to waste water and commodify it the way that we do when so many
people don't have access to clean drinking water," said Sarah Kraus, a junior from Allen. Texas and Environs president.
Sustainability,
Kraus said, is no passing
fad. The
Coca-Cola Company allocated $3,000 to help fund the six stations and an additional $3,000 to help fund the water bottles. The Office of the Student Body President has agreed to cover the remaining funds needed for the hydration stations, which cost $1,700 each.
Kraus wants to provide 6,000 water bottles this fall, but they would cost $17,000. She is currently looking for an additional $14,000 to supplement the fund-
SARAH KRAUS Junior from Allen, Texas
ing provided by Coca Cola. Even if not every student receives a bottle, Kraus hopes their visibility will encourage others to start carrying a reusable water bottle and com
sustainable lifestyle
As only 20 percent of the 80 million bottles of water sold daily in the United States are recycled, the bottled water industry creates waste that jeopardizes the environment. "Reduce, reuse, recycle," is a slogan Kraus expects to hear
"We've reached a pinnacle of unsustainable lifestyles," Kraus said. "This is the initial response to a problem we're going to have to be dealing with for a very long time."
more as the public realizes the environment's safety benefits them personally.
"Tapped," a documentary following the bottled water industry's effect on communities and production from ocean to landfill, will be shown at Liberty Hall on Tuesday at 7 p.m., free of charge. KU Environs meets every Wednesday at the Ecumenical Campus Ministries building at 5:30 p.m. Anyone interested in sustainability or environmental issues is encouraged to attend.
Edited by Hannah Wise
THE WHOLE STORY ABOUT WATER BOTTLES:
80 million bottles of water are sold daily in the U.S.at 10,000 times the price of tap water.
Only 20 percent of recycled bottles are actually recycled; the other 80 percent end up in landfills or the ocean.
Bottles are filled, using three times more water in making the bottle than in filling it.
40 percent of bottled water is just filtered tap water.
One hundred three years ago last Friday, the University began offering an electric trolley car service on and off campus. It cost five cents to ride and was a part of public campus
transportation for 23 years.
POLICE REPORTS
- A 22-year-old male was arrested yesterday at the intersection of 6th and Monterey Streets on suspicion of operating a vehicle under the influence. A $500 bond was paid.
- A 21-year-old male was arrested yesterday on the 900 block of Tennessee Street on suspicion of operating a vehicle under the influence. A $500 bond was paid.
- A 20-year-old male was arrested yesterday on the 1400 block of North 1300 Road on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. A $250 bond was paid.
- A 22-year-old male was arrested yesterday on the 1000 block of Massachusetts Street on suspicion of disorderly conduct. A $100 bond was paid.
Emily Donovan
EdR &
"I hate free money," said no one ever.
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