Fall 2009: UAA hosts a grand opening celebration for the new ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building

The event is today, Oct. 23 at 4 p.m.

The University of Alaska Anchorage's newest building, the ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building (CPISB), will be the site of a grand opening celebration on Friday, Oct. 23 at 4 p.m. The public is invited to join us on campus for a short program and reception, followed by building tours, science and research demonstrations in the new laboratories, and film showings in Alaska's first planetarium and visualization theater.

The CPISB opened for fall semester use in late August. This exceptional, multi-disciplinary building is dedicated to world-class instruction, faculty and instructional research, and interdisciplinary science. The CPISB is the first UAA building that was conceived, designed and built with environmental and fiscal sustainability in mind. This 120,000-square-foot facility physically brings together the disciplines of astronomy, biology, biochemistry, biomedical studies, chemistry, environmental sciences, geology and physics. The CPISB is designed as three modules linked by a massive glass atrium that serves as a hub for students, faculty and staff. The three wings include faculty offices, classrooms and research/teaching laboratories.

The crown jewel of the CPISB is the 64-seat planetarium and visualization theater, the first digital planetarium in the state of Alaska. The planetarium's 33-foot dome features digital technology that projects a seamless image over the entire dome surface and delivers dramatic, crystal-clear sound. From astronomical objects in outer space to the inner space of cellular structure, the new UAA planetarium can bring to life any three-dimensional image.

In April, ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. pledged $15 million to support science and engineering programs at UAA. In honor of this pledge, and in recognition of the $20 million dollars in unrestricted support that ConocoPhillips has contributed to the University of Alaska since 1999, UAA's new Integrated Science Building now carries the ConocoPhillips name.

The CPISB grand opening celebration is free and open to the public. Free parking is available for guests in the new CPISB parking garage located off Alumni Loop Road.