New science building named for “gumboot fisherman”
The University of Victoria’s newest and largest building was officially opened on Nov. 24, adding another world-class research and teaching facility to the campus.
The new building—known as the Bob Wright Centre, Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences—is named after the president and CEO of the Oak Bay Marine Group of Companies. Wright, who refers to himself as “just a gumboot fisherman,” donated $10 million toward the cost of the new building, as well as $1 million for student scholarships.
“A lifelong passion and affinity for the sea has underscored my concern about the impact of global warming on our oceans,” says Wright. “As a community and as a country, we must expand our investment in solid scientific research so we can pass on a healthy environment for generations to come.”
The total construction costs were $66.6 million, with the provincial government contributing $37.5 million and the remainder provided by UVic and other donors.
“The Bob Wright Centre showcases our position as a global centre of excellence in ocean, earth and atmospheric research, and will take our scientific research and teaching to an even higher level,” says UVic President David Turpin. “We’re grateful to the provincial government for its commitment to scientific research and to this outstanding new facility, and to Bob Wright, whose vision and generosity have made this building a reality.”
“Our investment is yet another example of this government’s commitment to building world-class facilities at BC’s public post-secondary institutions, giving our students more choices, more access, closer to home,” says Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development Murray Coell.
The new building unites under one roof all members of the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences (SEOS), who were previously spread out among seven buildings on campus. It also hosts the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis, a research division of Environment Canada. “For the first time, this building brings together as a community biological and chemical oceanographers, physical oceanographers and applied mathematicians, and climate scientists and solid-earth geologists,” says Dr. Tom Pedersen, dean of science.
“This community of scientists will work together to help answer some of the most compelling questions facing our planet.”
The building also houses synthetic chemistry labs, “clean rooms” for measuring minute concentrations of elements in water, a rooftop observatory, two large lecture theatres, offices, labs, meeting rooms and food services.
The university’s synthetic chemistry group is renowned internationally for its advances in the development of plastic magnets, data storage and the study of genetics and proteins, particularly the roles they play in mediating diseases such as cancer.
The rooftop observatory will be home to the best academic telescope in Canada (to be installed in late 2009), putting the university at the forefront of astronomy education. UVic is home to some of Canada’s leading researchers in cosmology and observational astronomy.
