OSU's Scientific Addition

The Henry Bellmon Research Center is impressive.

The exterior of Oklahoma State University’s newest addition, along busy Monroe Street in Stillwater, continues the school’s traditional bricks and faux-Georgian architecture. The windows are tall and the building curves slightly inward, drawing in the viewer. But it’s what’s inside – both in aesthetics and functionality – that really wows you.

I got a chance to tour the HBRC with the OSU/A&M Regents on their first visit to the facility. They were duly impressed, as was I.

The first thing you see is the Wall: a beautiful dark wood expanse embedded with a series of ethereal, color-shifting lights that cast a welcoming glow over the lobby. I heard a worker at the adjacent café (the aptly-named Newton’s) tell one of the Regents the lights can be programmed to have any sort of lighting effect: a wave, a rainbow – perhaps even OSU orange? The Wall isn’t much, but it provides a beautiful welcome to anyone entering the building.

But the building is more than just the lobby. Beyond security doors, graduate and research students are able to access the building’s high-tech laboratories with a swipe of a card.

OSU VP for Research and Technology Transfer Dr. Stephen McKeever took the Regents through the vast hallways and research labs of the HBRC. Like the Wall, the study rooms are decorated with glowing lights or hanging LEDs. The main areas’ staircases are broad and open from floor to floor, designed specifically to facilitate interdepartmental interaction. But that’s just the aesthetics. The labs themselves – for everything from chemistry to biophysics – are the Center’s real focus.

The university definitely didn’t skimp in this area. All labs have state-of-the-art technology, fashioned to put OSU ahead of the curve in scientific research.

And it’s being noticed – from high places.

McKeever related a story to the Regents of an executive from a top medical company who toured the facility and called it one of the top five in the nation.

The Regents appreciated that, to put it lightly.

We heard from several of the HBRC’s top scientists and researchers who have only recently set up shop in their new facilities, including Dr. Li Ma, from the Department of Food Safety and Biosecurity. Ma told us how she’s already begun a collaborative project with another department, simply because their departments are now directly next door and can share ideas and resources easily. That’s something that could never have happened before, when the departments were in completely separate buildings.

The building is named after the late Henry Bellmon, a former U.S. senator and Oklahoma governor, and is the first step in a future three-phase research complex. The two additional phases include the renovation of the current Physical Sciences building and a completely new building.

The center is definitely an advantage for the university, and the Regents all seemed to agree. While Oklahoma State University already stands out in other areas, the Henry Bellmon Research Center is a major addition that will attract top-notch faculty and continue to produce the best students for years to come.