$24 million expansion unveiled on AU campus

AUBURN, Ala. (WSFA) - Starting this fall, Auburn University’s astronomy and physics students will have a new place to call home.

“It really fits the university vision for innovative learning on our campus,” said Auburn University President Steven Leath.

Friday, university officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the 62,500-square-foot Leach Science Center addition.

“Until this building came into existence, different parts of the physics department were in different places on campus,” said Nicholas Giordano, dean of the College of Sciences and Mathematics. “Now with this new building, they’ll all be under the same roof.”

This expansion comes with a $24 million price tag, but with that money a lot of features were added that students can look forward to .

“A really unique feature of this building is what we’re calling the astronomy terrace. It’s basically the rooftop of the building, but its set up so that it can hold 18 different telescopes students can use for their astronomy classes,” Giordano said. “This way the students can go up there, they can adjust their own telescopes, then they can come down to the room we’re sitting in now and control their telescopes with one of the computers.”

The building also features multiple group study areas, featuring white boards and glass boards to stimulate collaborative work, and nine new labs.

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