August 31, 2018 | UHCL Staff
Moving is stressful. No one likes the chaos, and the idea of packing and then unpacking a seemingly endless sea of boxes holds little appeal. But for University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Assistant Professor of Chemistry Anton Dubrovskiy, seeing those stacks of boxes piling up in his office in the Bayou Building meant one thing: at long last, the future has finally arrived.
The opening of the state-of-the-art, 121,000-square-foot Science, Technology, Engineering and Math building featuring 13 faculty research labs, 15 teaching labs and a 100-seat tiered lecture hall has been highly anticipated by UH-Clear Lake’s College of Science and Engineering. However, Dubrovskiy said it would be wrong to say it’s a building for physics or chemistry major students. “This is a UHCL building, for all of us. Above all, it’s a building where students’ lives will be impacted.”
Dubrovskiy said that he made sure to leave his own personal mark on the new building. “I told the architects, please make me a board that raises and lowers like this one,” he said, indicating the huge white board in the 100-seat lecture hall—the building’s largest teaching space. “When you raise it, there’s another board underneath it so you don’t have to stop writing and erase. I love this board!”
Moving, Dubrovskiy concedes, is stressful. “Everyone wants the building to be ready,” he said. “I saw construction workers, faculty and students coming together for the common good so we could finish on time.”
“There’s so much to keep track of during a move. Several companies were hired to help with all aspects of the move, and it’s a collaborative endeavor, but I embrace it. It’s all a big adventure,” Dubrovskiy said.
In one of the building’s many labs, Dubrovskiy pointed out his favorite feature. “There’s so much more space for students to work in these labs,” he said. “Not many universities can offer this. It’s impressive. I can take up to eight students and they won’t run into each other.”
And now, he continued, there’s a separate lab for nearly every chemistry lab course taught at UHCL. “It’s such a great environment to learn,” he said. “As we grow, we can offer more general chemistry labs because have the space.” He added that he and his chemistry colleagues are very excited about the new, state-of-the-art equipment that is soon to be delivered. “We are looking forward to expanding our research because of some new top-of-the-line instrumentation ordered, such as a new 500 MHz NMR spectrometer,” he said.
Although the bright, spacious lecture halls and the expansive labs are all cause for excitement, Dubrovskiy said it’s all secondary. “I’m most looking forward to happy students’ faces when they see all this,” he said. “The important thing is that the people are excited to be here and they’re ready to learn. That’s what makes me happy.”
For more information about UHCL’s Chemistry program, visit www.uhcl.edu/academics/degrees/chemistry-ba.
