The new Interdisciplinary Science Building is partially open for the fall semester and is currently holding various classes.
Construction to build the Interdisciplinary Science Building was first approved by the CSU Board of Trustees in September 2018.
The CSU Board of Trustees is a 25-member board with authority over educational policy, finance, campus planning and facilities according to its website.
Construction on the building’s frame was completed in March 2020, and the school completed the building’s construction during the summer of 2023.
The building was supposed to officially open inFall 2023, but the school has not published any updates about the official grand opening, according to the SJSU website.
There are already classes and labs being held in the building and it is accessible for students to walk in and use the study rooms and look around.
Michael Kaufman, dean of the College of Science at San Jose State, said the original plan was to have students start attending classes in the Interdisciplinary Science Building at the end of the Fall 2023 semester.
However, Kaufman said it would have been difficult to start this process in the middle of the semester.
“The authorities who have a right to say, ‘Yes, you can occupy it,’ have the final say, so we just have to wait,” Kaufman said.
San Jose State also has the Duncan Hall of Sciences, an older building on campus that has science labs, classes, and utilities.
Duncan Hall houses multiple departments, such as science education, biological and chemistry science, that store different meteorological instruments, a greenhouse and a man-made pond.
Maria Rodriguez, a student has taken classes at Duncan Hall, and is now taking classes in the Interdisciplinary Science Building.
Rodriguez said she likes the colorful interior of the Interdisciplinary Science Building.
“The ISB is definitely an updated building and the biggest difference is the designated study space for students,” Rodriguez said. “[Duncan Hall] doesn’t really have tables for students to do work outside of class.”
The Interdisciplinary Science Building has utilities that give students the opportunity to apply their lessons and labs to real world situations.
According to the SJSU website, the Interdisciplinary Science Building will have a lot to offer students, including biology and chemistry teaching and research labs, collaboration spaces, study rooms and the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center.
In the Innovation Loft for the College of Professional and Global Education there will be data analytics, virtual reality, intelligent systems and meta verse labs, according to the same website.
“We wanted to ensure that we had modern facilities that would allow our students to train both in classrooms and research labs to prepare them for the world beyond San Jose State,” Kaufman said.
