Hugel Science Center, which opened in January 2001 after an extensive renovation of the former Olin Hall, houses Lafayette’s chemistry and physics departments.
The building provides an array of modern chemical instrumentation with dedicated labs for teaching analytical, biochemistry, general, organic, physical, and inorganic chemistry, and numerous instrument rooms, research labs, and chemical storage areas. Each professor supervises a dedicated lab for student-faculty research.
The facilities allow physics students to get hands-on experience with experiments in mechanics, thermodynamics, oscillations and waves, electricity and magnetism, and optics. There is a dedicated optics lab equipped with optical tables and research-grade optical components, and all laboratories have extensive computing support.
Results from NSSE can provide prospective students with insights into how they might learn and develop at a given college. 