Design, Housing and Merchandising faculty and student team assists Argonne National Lab

Friday, August 27, 2010

Paulette Hebert, a professor in the design, housing and merchandising department of the College of Human Environmental Sciences at Oklahoma State University, and three interior design students had a hand in the design and construction of a $95 million energy research facility at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago this summer.

As members of a Faculty and Student Team (FaST) led by Hebert, Stillwater senior Autry Sneed, Tulsa junior Jessa Feagins and December 2009 graduate Brooke Brandon from Sand Springs made up the only FaST team ever to be invited to the Facility Management Services Division of the Argonne National Laboratory.  Typically, Argonne invites individual student interns and researchers with visiting appointments.

Hebert said she selected students for her team who excelled in courses she had taught in previous semesters.  Each student had to work through a daunting application process which included writing a paper and receiving three letters of recommendation from DHM faculty members.

“All of the selected students have special technical skills and expertise,” Hebert said.  “They each have a "special spark" and an interest in the more technical side of design.  They were also selected based on their facility management and design skills, potential contributions to innovative design projects, professional interests, previous accomplishments, team player mentality, and maturity.”

The FaST Program is a cooperative effort between the Department of Energy Office of Science and the National Science Foundation. The goal of the program is to provide hands-on research experiences in DOE national laboratories during the summers.
This summer’s DHM internship program provided faculty and students an opportunity to help with the conceptual design of the new Energy Sciences Building being constructed at the Argonne and to gather data regarding existing laboratory equipment and conditions that would inform the planned relocation to a new facility.

“Our objective this summer was to provide facility management and design support for new laboratories and offices where Argonne National Laboratory investigators can pursue research and development work related to the broad field of energy,” Hebert said. “We had a very unique, total immersion experience and we learned a lot in the very special environment.”

Groundbreaking for the building is planned for early 2011, and a completion date is set in late 2014.  The OSU FaST team’s work supported the Energy Science Building project and the Office of Project Management Strategic Planning group at the Argonne.  While the group was busy all summer with numerous tasks, a few of the members’ main responsibilities included reviewing and developing floor plans and drawings, helping to plan the efficient use of office and laboratory spaces, creating a model of the building using 3D sketching software and gathering data regarding the existing conditions in laboratories and scientists’ future needs.

The goal of the new energy facility is to group existing energy-related Argonne scientists into closer proximity to each other. The design includes space for the five science theme areas of discovery synthesis, biomimetics and solar energy, catalysis, fuel cells and electrical energy storage.

The world-class facility will “provide an environment that will accelerate the pace of discovery by bringing together interdisciplinary teams of researchers in a space that can be adjusted to accommodate an evolving energy-related science agenda,” according to an Argonne spokesperson.

Also, following DHM’s recent work in other sustainable design ventures, the group assisted in the development and selection of energy efficient solutions required to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold requirements set by the U.S. Green Building Council. The system provides standards for environmentally sustainable construction.

“We are humbled and so very excited to have been selected by the Department of Energy 's Argonne National Laboratory and to have received supplemental funding from the National Science Foundation for stipends and travel,” Hebert said.  “Additionally, Argonne also covered the housing for us for ten weeks, for which we are also very grateful.”