The new building is a necessity if the physics and astronomy department is going to continue competing effectively and creating viable research, said Wolfgang Rudolph, chair of the department.
It would replace the current physics and astronomy building on Lomas Boulevard, as well as Regener Hall. Rudolph said these buildings are technologically outdated and consistently have maintenance problems, which is creating issues for the department.
“We don’t have the space we need. We don’t have the quality of research labs that we need to do state-of-the-art research,” Rudolph said. “Some faculty members we tried to attract declined our offer because they could not set up their experiments in our labs. And labs are quite important to a department like ours. We are not doing research for the sake of research, we are doing research to train students.”
The new building would be outfitted with ultramodern lab facilities and would be available to all researchers on campus, not only those studying physics and astronomy.
However, even if financing goes well, the proposed timeline does not predict it will be ready until the end of 2018, Rudolph said.
Funding for everything but the construction would be provided by the capital outlay bill, or Senate Bill 159, said Travis McIntyre, a graduate student who works for the Office of Government and Community Relations. The bill would complete the process of paying for architects and land surveys to see where it should be built.
One possible location for the Interdisciplinary Building is an old water reservoir near the Biology Department and Central Avenue. UNM does not own the property but is trying to acquire it, Rudolph said. Another possibility is the C parking lot next to Scholes Hall.
Next, funds for the construction would have to be raised. The total estimate is $77 million, Rudolph said. Rudolph and McIntyre were unable to comment on where those funds would come from at this time.
If passed, the bill will provide funds for many construction projects at UNM as well as other agencies around the state.
“Funding for the building has been included in the budget recommendation for both the Legislative Finance Committee and the Department of Finance Administration before the session started, (which means) the legislature and the governor both recommended it,” McIntyre said.
Eventually it will have to pass the Senate Finance Committee, both the House and the Senate, and be signed by Gov. Susana Martinez.
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“(The new building) is one of UNM’s highest priorities, so if it doesn’t happen in the given year we have to try again in the following year,” Rudolph said. “The problems won’t go away, so we have to keep putting pressure on everyone. We need a new building — lots of things are at risk.”
Marielle Dent is a staff reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Marielle_Dent.
