May 10,2000
Middlebury College’s Bicentennial Hall
Named “Lab of the Year” by R&D Magazine
MIDDLEBURY, Vt.-R&D Magazine, a trade magazine for the research and
development community, has named Middlebury College’s Bicentennial Hall
the 2000 Lab of the Year. Bicentennial Hall is a new 220,000-square-foot
academic facility that serves as the home of six natural and social science
departments. Middlebury is the first undergraduate institution in the nation
to receive the R&D Lab of the Year award. The honor is commonly given
to universities, industrial companies, or private research facilities.
The award recognizes the best new and renovated laboratories that combine
all aspects of the building into a superior working environment. The May
issue of the magazine will include an article on the 34th annual award and
Bicentennial Hall.
Ron Liebowitz, Middlebury College provost and executive vice president,
said, “The sciences are an integral part of the liberal arts program
at Middlebury. The vision and commitment on the part of the president and
trustees to support such a building for the sciences has been recognized
both by students and faculty as well as the public.
“It’s very gratifying to have this major project, which involved so
many individuals on campus, recognized by R&D Magazine’s Lab of the
Year award, a high honor in the field of science and engineering,”
he added.
Amara Rozgus, assistant managing editor of R&D Magazine, said, “Middlebury
College’s Bicentennial Hall encompassed everything that a laboratory should
be from both an architectural and scientific standpoint. Our award judges
span the gamut of experts in their fields-from architects and lab planners
to scientists-so the building is analyzed from every angle.”
This year, for the first time, the award is divided into two categories?new
and renovated?due to the large number of entries. Bicentennial Hall, the
award winner in the new facility competition, was completed by the start
of Middlebury’s current academic year on September 13, 1999.
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Middlebury College’s Bicentennial Hall Named “Lab of the Year”
by R&D Magazine/Page 2
According to R&D magazine, award judges seek a laboratory with a
number of characteristics, including an appropriate site, appealing architecture,
and a functional arrangement that encourages innovation and communication
between its scientists, engineers, technicians, staff members, and-as in
Middlebury’s case-between faculty and students. The facility also should
provide for the efficient use of energy, the safety of personnel and experiments,
and the humane treatment of animal test subjects.
Eligible applicants are research laboratories, quality assurance laboratories,
software development facilities, and testing and standards labs. Previous
winners include the Chiron Life Sciences Center in Emeryville, Calif., which
was the 1999 Lab of the Year.
R&D Magazine
R&D Magazine was founded in 1959 to serve research scientists, engineers,
and technical staff members at laboratories around the world, and is circulated
monthly to over 100,000 readers worldwide, all but a few thousand of whom
are located in the United States. About 85 percent of R&D Magazine
readers work for high-tech industrial companies. The remainder are research
professionals employed by government labs, universities, private research
institutes, or hospital and medical facilities. R&D Magazine is based
in Oak Brook, Ill.