{"71901":{"#nid":"71901","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Research Complex Encourages Collaboration","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen materials scientist Ken Sandhage needs to consult with a chemist, biologist or even an electrical engineer, he need only step up or down a few flights of stairs in Georgia Tech\u0027s new Molecular Science \u0026amp; Engineering Building (MS\u0026amp;E).  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022It\u0027s much easier to have productive conversations in the hallways if you are clustered in a building with people who have similar research interests, even if they aren\u0027t in the same department,\u0022 he says.  \u0022I don\u0027t have to walk across campus to find someone to talk with about an issue outside of my own discipline.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EEasy collaboration across disciplines and departments provided the design goal for the five-story, 275,000-square-foot structure that opened in August 2006.  Everything about it - including the location of faculty offices, design of interior open spaces and orientation to other buildings in the complex - encourages faculty from a broad cross-section of Georgia Tech to work together.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EEven Sandhage\u0027s lab is interdisciplinary, a necessity to support his interest: creating tiny electronic devices from the unique 3-D micro-shells of diatoms.  His lab includes a cell culture room for growing the brownish-red phytoplankton, traditional ceramic engineering furnaces, an electronic test station - and a biochemistry lab for studying peptides that induce the formation of functional inorganic materials.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMS\u0026amp;E can house 41 principal investigators, 50 support staff and more than 400 research staff and graduate students.  Research done in the building includes materials and polymer characterization, bio-nanotechnology, chemistry and biomolecular engineering, bio-manufacturing, membrane fabrication, nanochemistry, molecular biophysics and computational chemistry.  Five schools from Georgia Tech\u0027s College of Sciences and College of Engineering are represented.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThat suits Joe Perry\u0027s work well.  A faculty member in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, he\u0027s part of the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics - which already includes researchers from different schools.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Just the fact that we run into one another in hallways creates exchanges that can lead to great new ideas,\u0022 he says.  \u0022If these collaborators weren\u0027t in the building, I\u0027d have to pick up the phone and potentially interrupt somebody\u0027s work.  It\u0027s a different dynamic when you can talk with somebody face-to-face.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGary Schuster likes to hear words like those.  As dean of Georgia Tech\u0027s College of Sciences, he was heavily involved in the design of the building.  Now, as Georgia Tech\u0027s provost, he\u0027s seeing the rewards of that strategy.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We have built our new buildings so they are interactive and flexible, with a lot of open meeting space,\u0022 he says.  \u0022We have tried to provide a social, interactive environment that allows easy collaboration and cooperation.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut there\u0027s much more to it than that.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBuilding \u0027Research Neighborhoods\u0027\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EUniversities traditionally organize themselves around disciplines, part of a \u0027reductionist\u0027 approach that solves difficult problems by breaking them down into pieces small enough to understand.  That approach has worked well, and is necessary to gain the depth needed to make progress within disciplines, Schuster says.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut that approach won\u0027t work against complex and interrelated problems, such as understanding the social aspects of biological systems.  Take ant colonies, for example.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022If your objective is to understand ant colonies, you can\u0027t study just one ant,\u0022 Schuster explains.  \u0022All of the interactions of ant colonies, which are very complex structures, emerge from interactions among ants.  A lot of the problems that the world now faces are of the character of ant colonies.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor instance, he notes, solutions to the world\u0027s energy problems must consider not only such issues as British thermal units (Btu) and electrical efficiency, but also environmental impact and sustainability.  Those are \u0027emergent\u0027 problems, and they must be solved holistically - and at the intersection of different disciplines.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHence the organization of the Molecular Science \u0026amp; Engineering building into \u0027research neighborhoods\u0027 housing faculty members from different disciplines who are working on similar issues - but from different perspectives.  The concept was also applied in the Ford Environmental Science \u0026amp; Technology Building (ES\u0026amp;T), which is also part of Georgia Tech\u0027s four-building Biotechnology Complex.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022What we have done is try to build a physical infrastructure that supports the reductionist approach, but has an emergent overarching view,\u0022 Schuster explains.  \u0022We didn\u0027t build a chemistry building or chemical engineering building.  We built the Environmental Science \u0026amp; Technology Building, and we built the Molecular Science \u0026amp; Engineering Building.  We still have departments that have the disciplinary expertise, but we\u0027ve put people together to solve the emergent problems.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWithin the new building, which completes the four-building complex, faculty offices are clustered in a \u0027wedge\u0027 to encourage casual conversations.  The traditional approach would have put faculty together with their laboratories and space for graduate students.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022That puts the faculty into interaction with people, regardless of what their degrees happen to be, who are thinking about similar things, but from different perspectives,\u0022 Schuster explains.  \u0022An electrical engineering faculty member is likely to have his or her office next to a chemistry faculty member.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe faculty members still interact with their graduate students, of course, and the students also benefit from neighbors who may approach issues from a different perspective. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Impact of Life Sciences\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Environmental Science \u0026amp; Technology Building is the largest research facility on the Georgia Tech campus.  The new Molecular Science \u0026amp; Engineering Building is the second-largest.  That both are part of the new Biotechnology Complex demonstrates the importance of the life sciences to Georgia Tech, which emerged on the national scene through its strengths in industrial, mechanical, civil, aerospace and other traditional engineering areas.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut that traditional focus is changing rapidly.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Georgia Tech is defining its own path through the biosciences,\u0022 Schuster continues.  \u0022The path we are defining comes from our tradition of being quantitative and analytical, and this results in a style of approaching life sciences that allows us to step back and apply our strengths.  We are able to combine the quantitative engineering and scientific challenges of Georgia Tech with a strong medical school in Emory University.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThat collaboration, for example, led to formation of a jointly operated department of biomedical engineering, the first of its kind in the country involving a public and a private university.  The Wallace Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering now grants both undergraduate and graduate degrees and is housed in the third building of the Biotechnology Complex, the U.A. Whitaker Biomedical Engineering Building.  The fourth building is the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EReconsidering the Physical Environment\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0027s growth created an opportunity to reconsider how the physical environment affects research, teaching and service.  Over the past decade, it has invested nearly $1 billion in new and remodeled facilities, including the Biotechnology Complex.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022This allowed us to think about what a major research university of the 21st century should look like, and it gave us enough flexibility in the construction projects to think seriously about what we wanted to be,\u0022 Schuster explains.  \u0022We were able to think strategically.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut in encouraging collaboration, administrators can do only so much.  They can create a supportive environment, but the organization of projects will be done by faculty members who form natural alliances based on mutual benefit.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I\u0027m a big fan of self-organizing systems,\u0022 Schuster adds.  \u0022It\u0027s the responsibility of the administration to be strategic in its thinking and to set the boundary conditions and goals.  We have to provide the facilities to allow the faculty members and students to operate.  That encourages a spirit of entrepreneurship among our faculty, and leads to collaborations not only within Georgia Tech, but also with government and industry.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Biotechnology Complex carries entrepreneurship to an unusual level with the ATDC Biosciences Center.  Located in the ES\u0026amp;T Building, the Center is a satellite facility of Georgia Tech\u0027s science and technology incubator, the Advanced Technology Development Center.  The ATDC facility allows researchers with offices and labs in the Complex to tend their companies while maintaining their regular Georgia Tech duties.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA recent graduate of the facility is CardioMEMS, a maker of implantable medical sensing devices that has raised more than $50 million in venture funding since 2001.  The incubator currently houses three companies focused on life-science markets.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBeyond entrepreneurship, the self-assembly of chemists, biochemists, materials engineers, biomedical engineers, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers and other specialists has already begun to pay off, says Thomas Orlando, chair of Georgia Tech\u0027s School of Chemistry and Biochemistry - Joe Perry\u0027s home department.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We have had new faculty join us due to our ability to work together, and this has helped in recruiting some of the best talent in the world,\u0022 he reports.  \u0022We have also noticed that the interdisciplinary nature of our school has been attractive to graduate students and has helped increase the number and quality of students.\u0022\t\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EConnecting to Green Space\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELocated in booming midtown Atlanta, Georgia Tech could easily become a concrete wasteland. But creating an attractive environment was important to the school\u0027s administration.  So the new MS\u0026amp;E Building connects the Biotechnology Complex to an attractive bit of forest in the city - the President\u0027s Glade, located behind the campus home of President Wayne Clough.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe facility will also be part of the planned Eco-Commons, which will restore creeks and green space destroyed by development during the last century.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIssues of sustainability also drove the building\u0027s design, which was done by the architectural firm CUH2A, Inc.  To reduce storm water runoff from the building, for instance, the architects incorporated cisterns that store rainwater and use it for landscape irrigation.  Condensation from the building\u0027s HVAC system is also used for irrigation - instead of being dumped into the city\u0027s sewerage system.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We also got rid of a lot of concrete that had been in the area and restored permeable soil that allows water to percolate into the ground,\u0022 notes Fred Dolder, senior capital projects manager in the Georgia Tech Facilities Department.  \u0022Terracing of a new quad within the four-building complex provides a great space for the community to sit and enjoy the sun.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe $77 million facility also features an energy recovery system designed to reduce utility costs and cut the building\u0027s impact on the environment.  A dramatic glass wall faces north - away from the sun - while south-facing windows were designed to admit light while keeping out direct sunlight during the hot Georgia summers.  More than three-quarters of the building\u0027s space has access to natural light.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELaboratory spaces were designed to be modular, easily reconfigurable to meet changing needs - and hold down construction and renovation costs.  Service hallways ensure that supply deliveries are kept separate from pedestrian traffic.  Beyond the research laboratories, the MS\u0026amp;E building provides four 40-seat classrooms and a 150-seat lecture hall.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe building replaced facilities that had been the headquarters for Georgia Tech\u0027s Facilities Department.  Many of the maintenance activities associated with that unit were integrated into the MS\u0026amp;E Building - but few students and faculty will ever seen them because they were separated from public spaces by an access tunnel.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to classroom, office and laboratory spaces, the building also features a two-level 8,000 square-foot \u0027Quad Cafe\u0027 - a restaurant and coffee shop that Dolder describes as the \u0027little jewel\u0027 of the project.  To be operated by Georgia Tech\u0027s Auxiliary Services, the cafe will also support the goals of interdisciplinary collaboration.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe project\u0027s construction manager was Turner Construction Company, and project management was handled by the Staubach Company.  Though portions of the building remain to be built out, Dolder considers the project an overwhelming success.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022It was an excellent project not only from the design perspective, but also for the quality of the construction and the teamwork in pulling it off,\u0022 he adds.  \u0022We wanted to create a pleasant environment that would encourage collaboration and interdisciplinary research.  When you take these four buildings together with the type of work that is done here, it\u0027s a very powerful site by any measure.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERobert Snyder, chair of Georgia Tech\u0027s School of Materials Science and Engineering - Ken Sandhage\u0027s home department - has his own measure for judging the project a success.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The Molecular Science \u0026amp; Engineering Building has many of our bio- and bio-enabled faculty working next to nanomaterials faculty who have an interest in cancer, who are next to biomedical engineering faculty and students,\u0022 he points out.  \u0022We have succeeded in knocking down the old traditional walls between engineering and science disciplines.  The synergy can be felt in the air.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis article originally appeared in the Summer 2007 issue of Research Horizons, Georgia Tech\u0027s research magazine.\u003C\/em\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAtlanta, Georgia  30308  USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contact\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E)\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech\u0027s Biotechnology Complex was designed to facilitate interdisciplinary work"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"Buildings in Georgia Tech\u0027s new Biotechnology Complex were designed to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration by bringing together faculty members from different departments into \u0022research neighborhoods\u0022 that focus research strengths on specific areas.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Biotechnology Complex brings researchers together"}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2007-09-15 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:03:24","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2007-09-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2007-09-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"71902":{"id":"71902","type":"image","title":"Biotechnology complex","body":null,"created":"1449177414","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:16:54","changed":"1475894647","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:07"},"71903":{"id":"71903","type":"image","title":"Molecular Science \u0026 Engineering Building","body":null,"created":"1449177414","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:16:54","changed":"1475894647","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:07"},"71904":{"id":"71904","type":"image","title":"Interior of MS\u0026E Building","body":null,"created":"1449177414","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:16:54","changed":"1475894647","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:07"}},"media_ids":["71902","71903","71904"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.provost.gatech.edu\/","title":"Office of the Provost"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.mse.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.chemistry.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/","title":"College of Sciences"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"132","name":"Institute Leadership"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"340","name":"collaboration"},{"id":"3157","name":"Facilities"},{"id":"1098","name":"interdisciplinary"},{"id":"7544","name":"neighborhood"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=jt7\u0022\u003EContact John Toon\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-6986\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}