Picture of the Day - January 19

Sunset over the lake

Asian carp and Notre Dame

If you read my post below, and if you've been keeping up with campus over the past few years, you'll notice that Notre Dame has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in new facilities, labs, research areas and the like. While all of these buildings look fantastic and seem to have the ability to do some really interesting things, if you're like me, you've asked yourself, "but what are the practical implications?"

This article in today's Chicago Tribune discusses the Asian carp situation in Illinois (if you're not from the Midwest, this probably doesn't sound like a big deal. In essence, Asian carp--an incredibly invasive species of fish--have come up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers and are approaching Lake Michigan. They pose a huge threat to the lake's native wildlife and commercial fishing industry). The article mentions a new system developed by Notre Dame researchers to identify trace amounts of Asian carp DNA, essentially allowing authorities to identify the "progress" of the carp up the river.

I do not know if this new system was developed in the Jordan Hall of Science or one of our newer facilities on campus, but the more we grow and improve, the better chance we have of developing practical uses for our research and technologies.

Stinson-Remick Hall

Last week, the College of Engineering opened Stinson-Remick Hall, a new $70 million, 142,000 square foot facility on Notre Dame Avenue (on the site of the old University Club--this building is just a tad bit larger). Stinson-Remick is home to a nanotechnology research center, the University's new Energy Center, a semiconductor processing and device fabrication clean room, and plenty of spaces for both undergraduate and graduate research and collaboration. As a side note: don't ask me what any of those technical "activities" are; I was a Political Science major.

Our office was fortunate to tour Stinson-Remick Hall yesterday, during which I was able to take a few pictures. I apologize for the quality--I was using the camera on my phone--but I figured these were better than nothing!

Undergraduate Learning Center

One of many study areas throughout the building

One of three "clean rooms" in the facility: one of grade 10,000, one of grade 1,000, and one of grade 100. Again, my knowledge here lacks, but apparently these are some of the "cleanest" such facilities on a college campus in the United States.

A view of the main hallway, with the clean rooms in the back.

It does not look like there is an online tour of the facility yet, though I'm guessing there will be soon. It will be posted at this website.

tour.nd.edu

At the end of last year, the University unveiled tour.nd.edu, a new website that essentially contains videos of campus tours. We lacked a virtual tour for quite some time, but the new website does a fantastic job of showing--and discussing--different parts of campus.

I know it is difficult for students in many areas of the country to visit Notre Dame before deciding where to attend college. While tour.nd.edu does not replace a campus tour, it certainly is the closest thing we have to that actual visit.

The Priest President

Today's edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education has a nice, in-depth profile on Father Jenkins. As expected, much of the article discusses the controversy surrounding the invitation to President Obama last year, though it also covers Father Jenkins as a person and the identity of Notre Dame.

If you do not have a subscription to The Chronicle, a .pdf version of the article is linked here.

A direct link to the article (for subscribers--a subscription is free) is here.