Beam with Leopard Pride

By Bryan Hay

Members of the Lafayette community will have an opportunity to be part of College history on Thursday, May 10, by signing a structural beam for Rockwell Integrated Sciences Center (RISC).

From 2-5 p.m., students, faculty, staff, alumni, and trustees can sign their names on the 10-foot beam, which will be set up on Anderson Courtyard.

Painted light gray to accentuate the array of signatures, the beam eventually will be installed on the third floor of RISC and remain exposed within the space so the signatures stay visible in perpetuity.

A topping-out ceremony likely will be held this summer when the final building beam is set in place. An ancient ritual among the construction trades, a topping-out ceremony signifies that a building project has reached its most auspicious point.

Traditionally, in the United States, an American flag and an evergreen, a symbol of good luck and prosperity, are perched atop the building.

The $75 million RISC, the largest capital project in Lafayette’s history, is named for S. Kent Rockwell ’66, one of the College’s most generous benefactors.

The 103,000-square-foot, five-story building on Anderson Courtyard will bring together biology, computer science, and environmental science and studies, along with additional space for neuroscience, and will be connected to Acopian Engineering Center. Kunkel Hall, home to the biology department, will be repurposed following the department’s move into the new building, as will the fifth floor of Acopian, current home to the computer science department.

Lafayette’s Bradbury Dyer III ’64 Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship also will be based in RISC along with the Daniel and Heidi Hanson ’91 Center for Inclusive STEM Education and unplanned spaces for future academic growth. RISC is scheduled to open for fall semester 2019.