Renovations are under way on the second and third floors of Hannah Hall.

The space, which was vacated by the School of Nursing and the School of Health Sciences last month because of the move to the Human Health Building, is being renovated to assist both the William Beaumont School of Medicine as well as the biology, physics and chemistry academic  disciplines.

“The vacated space from the Schools of Health Sciences and Nursing has allowed us to renovate in Hannah Hall,” said Terry Stollsteimer, associate vice president of facilities management. “We are renovating and installing a new chemistry lab, physics lab and a biology lab on the second floor of Hannah Hall.”

What will change

Brad Roth, physics professor and acting department chair, said the second floor will contain labs for natural sciences and physics.

“We are getting a new introductory physics laboratory which will change the way we teach introductory labs,” Roth said.

He said many of the 100-level physics classes will become five-credit classes with labs built into the classrooms.

Kathleen Moore, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and biochemistry professor, said the physics students will be conducting labs within the second semester of general physics classes.

She said she’s also looking forward to seeing the pre-medical center, which is being built on the second floor.

“There will be workshops held in the office to help students gain interviewing skills and we also hope to have a pre-med adviser on location,” Moore said.

The pre-med office will be a big breakthrough for the university, according to Moore.

“We’ve never had anything like this before,” she said. “It’s not just an advising center, but an advising center with interactive activities.”

After renovations, the third floor will include a gross anatomy lab, a set of locker rooms and a storage room.

The biology labs will be taken to a higher level with more equipment, according to Moore. New biology lab courses will also be created upon completion of the renovations, in association with the biomedical sciences program.

About three years ago, renovations of other teaching labs in Hannah Hall were completed and this group of renovations makes the labs more cohesive, according to Moore.

“It gives our undergraduate science students a very high-quality space, for almost all of their laboratory experiences here,” Moore said.

Larger lab space, less student limitations

In the past, the program has had to turn students away because of space limitations, according to Moore.

“Space is very tight at the university so we are very pleased about the renovations especially to the laboratory spaces,” Moore said.

The entire project is expected to be completed by August 2013, according to Stollsteimer.