A New Beginning for Stony Brook Southampton
by Kayla Hartigan
On September 27th, 2013, the new Marine Science Station held their ribbon-cutting ceremony and officially opened for use by the students and researchers of Stony Brook University. Excitement was in the air as we all listened to the speakers discuss how this project came to fruition and how necessary this was for the growth of the marine and atmospheric sciences program. As the speakers had said this new center will secure Stony Brook University as the top undergraduate program for marine science research on the East Coast, and everyone is excited to see what will happen next.
Aside from being a state of the art research facility, the marine station also follows the ideals of reuse, recycle and reduce which Stony Brook as a university tries to uphold. It is equipped with energy recovery of ventilation air, which uses the air already exhausted with in the building to condition incoming air, daylighting of normally occupied spaces, insulated exterior walls, as well as Silver certification from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). This certification scores the building based on having a sustainable location, water efficiency, energy performance that won’t harm the atmosphere, use of sustainable materials and other categories along these lines. All these updates will ensure the health of the marine and atmospheric environments in the Long Island area, and with the top-of-the-line research being done in this facility the community can continue to grow and recover from storm damages such as those caused by Hurricane Sandy.
Until next time,
Kayla Hartigan
Sources:
http://www.usgbc.org/leed/rating-systems
Blog entry: About the building
by Megan Ladds
Cutting the red ribbon on September 27th, 2013 officially opened the New Marine Station. It is 15,000 square feet and two stories. It is designed as the new home base for research and classes for SoMAS. Its’ location on Old Forte Pond provides access to every southern estuary as well as easy access to the ocean through an inlet near the Ponquogue bridge. It has a conference room that looks over the docks and is connected to a balcony for full enjoyment of the ocean air. It has lab rooms and classrooms for students, both undergrad and grad, to use as well as professors and, hopefully, people from other institutions. The classroom can also be a lecture hall that can hold up to 100 people. There are teaching lab rooms as well as a lab that will be used to analyze samples.
The seawater lab is beautiful. It is a spacious 2,500 square feet and has sea-tables that can be connected to a multitude of water and air flow systems for the purpose of conducting experiments and storing various marine life with ease. There is also a full wall of windows to allow touring of the facility and experiments without potentially disturbing of the sensitive experiments. In addition to the indoor wet lab there is 2,400 square feet of outdoor lab space. This new facility will no doubt be an important addition to the growing Marine Science program here at Stony Brook University as well as attract more attention to the necessity of the Southampton campus to that growth.
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| The seawater has more space than the wet lab that was being used previously. This will aid in the effectiveness of experiments. The glass windows looking in will allow people to tour this facility and see what sort of things are going on without potentially disturbing the experiments in the process. There are also a large amount of seawater valves as well as air flow-through systems that will make experimental setup much easier. |
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| This is a side view from the driveway depicting the large lobby and conference room section. There is a balcony on the second floor which can be accessed through the conference room. Multiple windows on all sides allow sunlight to come through, rather than relying solely on electricity. |
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| This is a view of the outdoor lab space from the balcony. It includes docks and research vessels (Paumanok and Peconic). To the right of this picture are a series of mesocosm experiments that are currently being used to test predation. |
Grand Opening of the New Marine Sciences Center
by Kyle Chadderton
This past Friday I was delighted to attend the grand opening of the newest building on Stony Brook’s Southampton campus. There were speeches given by president Samuel Stanley and a couple other representatives of my esteemed university. President Stanley stressed the importance of the new state of the art Marine Sciences Center so that Stony Brook can outcompete many other marine science schools. I look forward to utilizing this high-tech facility for classes and the new and improved wet lab.
Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) has come a long way in these past couple of years. Only a few years ago the Southampton campus was reopened for students to attend and with the addition of this new building our campus’ community will continue to grow and prosper. SoMAS currently has over 500 undergraduates and about 150 graduates in the program, and Stony Brook is the only university in New York State that can provide marine science degrees. Presently Southampton campus provides several research vessels, each with a uniqueness helping students to fully understand the variety of marine habitats that we have in Long Island.
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| This is a shot of the new Marine Sciences Center, the architecture is very modern and pleasant to view from afar. My favorite feature is the balcony from which you can see the out into Shinnecock Bay. |
