Outdated chemistry lab to receive makeover
Lab will be best of its kind in Western Canada
MICHAEL OLSON STAFF
Come the new school year, the outdated University of Manitoba chemistry lab located in 318 Parker Building will be converted into a $1 million first-class research and training facility for students, graduates, and local companies.
The plans — as well as $550,000 in funding from the federal government — for the new Chemistry Centre of Excellence were officially announced on Jan. 12 by U of M president Emöke Szathmáry and Manitoba MP Rod Bruinooge on behalf of Rona Ambrose, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Western Economic Diversification.
Until now, the department of chemistry did not have the resources to give the lab the necessary updates.
“It is basically antiquated . . . Much of the material would have been state-of-the-art 15-25 years ago . . . certainly not state-of-the-art today,” said Norman Hunter, head of the department of chemistry at the U of M. “We’ve been trying to do this for years, but it just finally came together, driven by the hard work of our department.”
“What we hope is that local industries will find it very useful,” said Michael Freund, a chemistry professor at the U of M. “That’s important to us because we want to establish a good connection with them, because that’s where many students are employed.”
According to Hunter, “It’s exciting for new science students, but some of the older students are a little disappointed that they will be graduating and won’t get a chance to test out the new materials.”
More than half of the funding for the new lab will come from Western Economic Diversification (WED), which is a branch of the federal government that provides funds based on the needs of an industry. Other U of M initiatives that WED has supported in the past include the Nano-Systems Fabrication Laboratory, the university’s engineering labs and Smartpark.
“The big thing about this is that the new equipment is the most expensive teaching equipment out there, and we couldn’t acquire it without this funding,” said Hunter.
WED will supply approximately $550,000 to the new lab, while the faculty of science endowment fund is contributing $123,000, and the faculty of science dean’s office is providing another $120,000.
Most of the donated funding will be used to purchase instruments to be used for analytical chemistry, which examines the chemical nature of matter.
Varian Inc., with whom the department of chemistry has entered into educational partnership, will supply the chemistry lab with new instruments and is contributing another estimated $350,000- $370,000.
The last time there was significant investment in the chemistry labs at the U of M was over 10 years ago. But according to Freund, that investment was not significant enough.
“The students in undergrad courses have been suffering for a while,” said Freund. “Anybody taking the course realizes the need for new equipment.”
“I think one of the problems here at the U of M is that some of the labs aren’t sophisticated enough to have the proper equipment needed for the techniques that are relevant to experiments,” said Dave banks, a fourth-year science student.
According to Hunter and Freund, upon its August completion, the new state-of-the-art lab will be the best of its kind in Western Canada.
