This laboratory, which is being used by faculty and students in the Department of Biology, is an outcome of the recent $4.2 million renovation project in Hickey Hall.

As a result of the $4.2 million renovation, the first floor was converted from faculty offices to biology and physics labs. In addition, all the labs on the second floor were refurbished for use by members of the Department of Engineering-Physics-Systems and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. The renovated facilities opened in early March.

The celebration on April 22 will begin at 3:00 p.m. with an academic forum in Albertus Magnus Hall 137. The re-opening and blessing ceremony will take place at 4:00 p.m. in the west wing of Sowa Hall. It will be followed by guided tours of the Hickey labs, a poster session highlighting research currently being done by PC students majoring in the sciences, and a reception.

College President Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P. ’80 will lead the re-opening and blessing ceremony, which will include a Gospel reading, a prayer of blessing, and remarks. 

The academic forum that will initiate the celebration is entitled “The Importance of Undergraduate Science Research at a Liberal Arts College.” It will feature a panel of faculty, students, and alumni representing the sciences. The moderator will be Rev. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P., assistant professor of biology.

Panel members are Dr. Hugh F. Lena, vice president for academic affairs and professor of sociology; Dr. Charles R. Toth, associate professor of biology; Dr. Theresa A. Moreau, assistant professor of physics; John Sinnamon ’08, an undergraduate research student in biology; Katie Ellis ’06, who is a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry at Boston University; and Dr. Zahir A. Shaikh, professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Rhode Island and program director of the Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE).