Science facility to move to a more stable location

Pearson Hall too shaky for those working with microscopes.

OXFORD — Miami University’s Pearson Hall shakes — yes, shakes.

The average person may not notice it, but the building’s Electron Microscopy Facility does.

The shaking contributes to a list of reasons why the facility is moving to Upham Hall next August. According to the facility’s director, Richard E. Edelmann, they need more space for research, a more stable location and have simply run out of room.

Right now, the facility’s 12 microscopes are spread between several rooms on two separate floors.

And looking through a microscope in the shaky building can be compared to looking at one in a moving car, Edelmann said.

The new facility will offer a lot more space and even include a special microscopy lecture room that can connect directly to the microscopes for learning purposes.

As for the shaking, Upham Hall is an older building, built with more solid materials, making it a more stable environment for the facility.

“This will provide Miami with one of the most open and well designed facilities in the region,” Edelmann said.

The primary goal of the Electron Microscopy Facility, or EMF, is not just closed-door research, but rather to help students learn and be at the cutting edge when they leave Miami University.

Students from 13 departments on campus, including the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Education, use the facility.

Students from the Oxford, Middletown and Hamilton campuses also use the EMF, as well as students from local high and middle schools.

The move to Upham has been 12 years in the making, and is part of a larger renovation of parts of Upham Hall, where Miami is investing an estimated $3.6 million.

It will take a month to move all the equipment – and it is not the first time EMF has moved.

EMF was originally housed in Upham Hall, but moved to Pearson in 1986. This move happened when the department of microbiology, founded in 1956, moved to Pearson.

About the Author