Shimadzu Corp., URI officials to join in ceremonies Sept. 10
WHO: David M. Dooley, University of Rhode Island president; Shuzo Maruyama, president of Shimadzu Scientific Instruments; Gerald Sonnenfeld, URI vice president for Research and Economic Development, Winifred Brownell, dean of URI’s College of Arts and Sciences; Mike Smith, president of the URI Foundation, William Euler, chair, URI Department of Chemistry, other URI and Shimadzu officials, URI faculty and students.
WHAT: Officials will sign an agreement that will provide the University of Rhode Island’s new Center for Chemical and Forensic Sciences with state-of-the-art Shimadzu scientific instruments at a significant discount and including a 5-year service plan, an in-kind donation valued at more than $1.2 million. If the University were to purchase the instruments through normal educational purchasing programs, the cost could run up to $2.8 million. The service plan covers technician visits once each semester to the teaching-learning labs and an additional visit a year to the research laboratories. Shimadzu’s donation ensures that the University has cutting edge instruments and the ability to maintain even heavy demand instruments used by thousands of URI students who take chemistry each semester.
BACKGROUND: Slated to be completed in the spring of 2016, URI’s $68 million Center for Chemical and Forensic Sciences will serve more than 7,000 URI students who take chemistry each year; about 40 percent of all URI degree programs require at least one chemistry class. It will provide chemistry instruction to approximately 1,400 students each day. Supported primarily by a $61 million bond issue approved by Rhode Island voters and private fund raising, the center will triple the amount of space for teaching labs and nearly double the space for research labs compared to current facilities in Pastore Hall, which was built in 1953 to accommodate 800 students.
WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 4:30 p.m.
WHERE: URI’s Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences, Room 10, 120 Flagg Road.
TO MAKE COVERAGE ARRANGEMENTS: Call Dave Lavallee at 401-875-5862.