With the increase to 5,500 freshmen to the University this year and limited lab space, the science departments were only able to accommodate for most freshmen in lab courses.

Although the physics and astronomy department was able to offer lab sections for all freshmen who enrolled in the introductory physics courses, the Division of Biological Sciences was only able to offer lab courses to 97 percent of freshmen who tried to enroll to introductory biology labs, said Mark Farmer, the academic chair of biological sciences.

In a previous Red & Black article, President Michael Adams said the University would be unable to offer any additional science lab courses than it is now.

In Fall 2011 and Spring 2012, the science labs have maxed out, Farmer said.

As freshmen class sizes increase, lab resources are becoming more sparse. FILE/The Red & Black

“We’ve asked and received support [from the Dean’s Office] to add additional lab sections up to the maximum,” he said. “We can only really offer labs between eight in the morning and nine at night, but beyond that, it becomes problematic. We don’t want to go to weekend and friday evening labs.”

For students who need introductory biology and chemistry courses for their pre-professional tracks, the inability to schedule classes needed to stay on course can become frustrating, especially when some courses need pre-requisites only offered during either fall or spring semester, said Kristen Miller, the academic professional associate for biological sciences.

“They’re trying to line up their courses for essentially their entire time here to keep them on track to take different exams for dental and medical school,” she said. “When they can’t get in a course, they certainly can get frustrated, but there are always different courses or avenues they can take to keep them on track.”

Still, some science courses are only offered during fall or spring semester and are required to move on to the next class, said Farmer.

“In the past, students who weren’t able to take biology 1107 in their first or second semester at the University did have some difficulty because that would mean the next time they could begin the biology sequence would be fall semester of their sophomore year,” Farmer said.

In order to compensate for the minimal space, the biological science department will offer biology 1107 during the summer semester.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to do this because we have the resources in faculty and teaching assistants,” Farmer said. “We hope by offering a section of the first course in the sequence this summer, more students will be able to get back or to start on track.”

A possible solution to the lack of lab space is through the science learning center in South Campus, which is expected to start being funded for design this upcoming year, said Danny Sniff, the associate vice president of facilities planning.

“Sometime in late 2013, we should start construction,” Sniff said. “It will take about a year to design it, and I’m estimating that it will take 18 to 20 months to build. It’s a complex building, and it’s going to be big.”

The building, which has full supportive backing from Adams and the science faculty, is the continued initiative of the University to grow the undergraduate experience and education, Sniff said.

He said the function of the science learning center is supposed to be modeled after the Miller Learning Center.

“It should provide the students a place to gather, to meet and to study together in a collaborative way,” Sniff said. “Also, there is a desperate need for [lab] space, and this will help alleviate some of that space, and hopefully, we’ll be able to renovate the undergraduate space into research space.”

Through the science learning center, classes won’t be as packed, and more time slots for labs would be available, Sniff said.

“It’s a way in which to get the classes that students need instead of missing or skipping a semester,” he said. “A building like this will help deliver more sections, and therefore it will help students get the sections they need in the sequence they need it.”

Farmer said without the new science facility, he doesn’t believe the science departments will be able to adapt to modern science teaching methods.

“We’re trying to move towards teaching opportunities that involve smaller group dynamics,” he said. “Because of the physical constraints, it makes it very difficult for biology educators to employ new group teaching tools — the labs are conventional, but they’re out of date.”

As the University continues to grow, Farmer has become concerned with the ability of the science department to accommodate the expansion.

“There are indications that biology is growing as a popular major,” he said. “Over the last decade, there has been a considerable increase in the number of science majors, and we’ve pushed the capacity to the limit. At this point, there is no vacant space in the biology buildings, so we have no option to expand further.”