Lab opens for 'everyday' experiments

The new facility is designed to make undergraduates' experiments in physics and engineering easier by linking 20 computers with such equipment as light sensors, motion detectors, video analysis software, temperature sensors, and even a track for simulated accidents between small carts.

The construction of the classroom, located on the flourth floor of Bausch & Lomb Hall, is a key part of a National Science Foundation-sponsored initiative aimed at relating science to everyday life for undergraduates. The program offers a handful of courses that marry disciplines as divergent as literature and optics and mechanical engineering and art history.

"We're giving students a feel for the scientific method here, while trying to minimize the amount of time they have to spend on calculations and other drudgery," said Wolfs, an associate professor of physics and astronomy who designed the facility. "Students can spend all their class time on experiments and leave the number-crunching to computers."