CoSE moves into new Science and Engineering Innovation Center
One month in, SFSU students are already benefiting from the new science facilities
There’s a prominent new addition to 19th Avenue: San Francisco State University’s new Science and Engineering Innovation Center (SEC). The University’s latest academic building is a source of excitement for the College of Science & Engineering (CoSE). Fall 2024, faculty, staff and students began moving into the building and using the new facilities. Students quickly settled into the building and are excited to use the learning spaces.
“It reminds me of a biotech company I’ve toured. The layout is very similar. The labs are also equipped with the latest technology,” said Lika Chhit, a senior Cell and Molecular Biology and Chemistry double major. “I’m really excited to do research in the new lab.”
The new 125,000-square-foot SEC is home to the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and the School of Engineering, as well as the CoSE dean’s office and the College of Professional & Global Education (CPaGE) main office on the fifth floor. SEC will serve all 7,000 CoSE students and hundreds of general education students each year.
“SEC provides our students with spaces to learn and study that reflect the most innovative pedagogy in STEM,” said CoSE Dean Carmen Domingo. “It also has much needed research and project spaces that will allow faculty to advance their research and provide students with excellent training opportunities that will open up terrific career opportunities for them.”
Senior Computer Engineer major Emely Villa has been waiting for SEC since her first semester in the fall of 2021. As a member of the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) University program, Villa had seen images and presentations about SEC plans over the years.
“Seeing the PowerPoints, [SEC] looked very lovely, but actually being in there, it’s really amazing,” she explained.
A student engineer in the CARE (Controls for Assistive Rehabilitation and Robotics) Lab, Villa is excited that SEC makes collaboration easier and gives the lab more room to acquire necessary equipment. She’s particularly excited about a collaboration that will help her research project designing a smart shoe insole. She’s collaborating with San Francisco State’s Intelligent Structural Hazard Mitigation Lab (also in SEC), which had force-sensitive sensors built inside a portion of the fourth floor, allowing researchers to collect data as the building is in use.“[SEC is] going to be able to take a lot of research projects in our labs to another level,” said Villa, an SF State Scholars student working on her bachelor’s and master’s degrees simultaneously. SEC’s benefits extend well beyond the labs, she added.
“And in the conference rooms there’s a lot of space for students to [use] for senior projects,” Villa said. “Throughout the building, there’s seating for students, which is what we really wanted in our old building.
Chhit, who works on microviscosity research in SEC, echoes Villa’s sentiments about the research and study spaces. “It is convenient. I don’t have to go back and forth between the library and my research lab during downtime. I can use the chemistry study room nearby to do my homework.”
Each floor has study spaces for individual and group work, some with whiteboards. On the first floor, there is a large space dedicated for faculty-student engagement like office hours. The whole building has large windows or transparent walls, filling the building with ample natural light.
“It’s really cool. We have a building we can be proud of and say, ‘Come, check out this work,’” Villa added, noting that labs have large windows that allow visitors to see research in action. “There’s a lot of display areas too where a lot of our old projects are going to be able to be displayed. … It’s very nice to be proud of showcasing the work at the new [SEC].”
CoSE invites everyone to visit the new Science and Engineering Innovation Center (SEC).
Emely Villa using a laser cutter in the SEC Engineering stockroom, one of her favorite rooms in the building.