The University of the Virgin Islands on Saturday unveiled the new College of Science and Mathematics facilities at the environmentally-friendly Research and Technology Park at the west end of the St. Croix campus.
The state-of-the-art, 8,422-square-foot science center is housed on two floors of the $13 million RTPark, which opened May 31. The building has light, neutral colored walls, ceilings and floors with large blue tinted windows that maximize energy efficiency and solar power.
In the science and math center, there are 13 offices for instructors, six laboratories, two videoconference rooms and two classrooms with a capacity of 25 students each. The rooms have motion-activated LED ceiling lights and the labs have seamless floors to prevent bacteria growth. The biology lab is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the chemistry lab is equipped with a freezer, a fume hood to mix gases, a dishwasher, an ice maker and a safety shower for chemical spills.
The center was designed by architect Renee D’Adamo and built by Celestine Construction, LLC.
The 18,000-square-foot Research and Technology Park, situated on 10 acres, was funded with a $5.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration, $3.5 million from the V.I. Public Finance Authority, $2 million from UVI and a $3-million loan from Knowledge Investments LLP, an RTPark tenant.
The website lists more than 20 tenants, including Broadband VI, Choice Communications, Innovative Entities, 13D Research and several Internet and technology-based businesses.
RTPark executive director David Zumwalt told the UVI trustees Saturday that the RTPark has a tenant base of 200 employees and brings in $160 million in revenue in the Virgin Islands.
“Maybe the RTPark is small, but the impact across the Virgin Islands is big,” he said.
The RTPark is a public corporation and autonomous governmental instrumentality with its own governing board. The seven member board includes trustees from the University of the Virgin Islands and three appointed by the governor. Some tenants may qualify for tax benefits through the VI government.
From the “tenants” occupying this new building and the last few sentences in this article, I hope bureaucracy and politics don’t stiffle research and proper learning for students. I saw this building as a means to have educated and well established researchers/teachers who have earned their PhDs to come back to UVI to perform high quality research and make a difference as well as pave the way for upcoming students to acheive a career in the STEM fields. Hopefully, this will be the case and this building just doesn’t serve as a glorified conference room for businesses and senators on STX and again the students are forgotten.