Matt Mitgang | Student Life

St. Louis Fire Department firefighters pack away equipment outside of Brauer Hall early Tuesday afternoon. At least nine fire trucks from three departments responded after a mishap with a reaction experiment in an Environmental Nanochemistry Lab led to a 911 call. There were no injuries.

No one was injured and, according to fire department officials at the scene, damage was negligible.

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Deputy Fire Chief Michael Arras (left) speaks with a firefighter outside Brauer Hall early Tuesday afternoon. Three fire departments responded to a possible chemical leak in one of the building’s laboratories.

Michael Arras, deputy fire chief for the city of St. Louis, said that the accident was quickly contained and repercussions were minimal.

“[There was] a little bit of dry powder, but that’s about it; other than that, it was contained,” Arras said.

Many students inside the building were unaware of the incident until the officers ran in.

The “first alarm” dispatch included at least seven trucks from the city of St. Louis, including one hook-and-ladder truck and a hazardous materials truck. Both the University City and Clayton fire departments were at the scene.

“Because we got it as a possible chemical leak, we dispatched a HazMat [truck], but it wasn’t needed,” Arras said. “You have to be prepared for anything.”

Stephen F. & Camilla T. Brauer Hall, seen here last week, is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2010. Brauer Hall will house the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

Stephen F. and Camilla T. Brauer Hall for the Washington University School of Engineering & Applied Science is scheduled to be officially open and ready for use in the fall of 2010, according to the administration.

Brauer Hall, located close to Whitaker Hall in the parking lot outside of Brookings Hall, is part of the University’s effort to improve research and learning facilities for students and faculty.

Construction began in October 2008 and will be completed in the spring of 2010 in preparation for the following fall semester’s academic use, according to Michael Altepeter, assistant dean of facilities planning and management.

Altepeter wrote in an e-mail to Student Life that Brauer Hall will feature the same architectural style as most of the buildings on the Danforth Campus.

“The architecture will be the collegiate gothic style used by Cope & Stewardson for the original buildings. The building is but one component of a master plan developed for this section of the University campus,” Altepeter wrote. “Brauer Hall is designed with an arcade inspired by the one at Ridgely Hall.”

Among the facilities in the building’s 150,000 square feet of space, there will be two teaching labs, one each for the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) and the Department for Energy, Environmental and Chemical engineering (EECE).

Altepeter notes that the building will be immensely useful to the development of the University’s already strong BME and EECE programs.

“The new building will offer the EECE Department state-of-the-art laboratories. The new building also gives BME, presently ranked 10th in the nation, the room it needs to expand,” he wrote.

A highlight of Brauer Hall will be its extensive research facilities for the two departments.

“The research laboratories will be state-of-the-art, modular facilities which will allow us to do research in Energy and Environment,” Pratim Biswas, chair of the EECE Department, wrote in an e-mail to Student Life. “They will be modern and faculty doing similar research will be grouped together. For example, research in aerosol science and technology, air quality and nanoparticle technology will be done on the third floor.”

Seven wet labs and a number of computational labs in Brauer Hall will provide students and faculty with additional facilities for research.

Another innovation in the new building will be a distance learning classroom, which will facilitate interactions between the University and other colleges in the McDonnell Academy Global Energy and Environmental Partnership. These include Fudan University in China, the University of Tokyo, the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and nearly two dozen others.

“[The distance learning classroom] will have the provision to connect to the world,” Biswas wrote.

In his speech at Brauer Hall’s groundbreaking ceremony in October, Biswas said he anticipated the building will be the site of research that will affect the planet.

“While a momentous event for our University, this building will impact the world,” he said during the speech. “We will train graduate and undergraduate students in energy, environmental and chemical engineering, and prepare the leaders of tomorrow to tackle the important issues we will face.”

In keeping with the University’s environmental and sustainability initiatives, Brauer Hall is designed to receive Leadership in Energy and Environment Design’s  Gold certification, according to Biswas. The building will implement many of the latest technologies to be as sustainable as possible, including a mechanism to capture and reuse storm water and a system of cooperating with local utility providers to reduce energy consumption.

To keep the University community up to date on the construction of Brauer Hall, the department has established a Web site with details on the project: http://eec.wustl.edu/about/newbuilding.asp.

Only a portion of the parking lot adjacent to Whitaker Hall will be used during the ThurtenE carnival this year due to the construction of the new engineering school building. (Evan Wiskup | Student Life)

ThurtenE Carnival, which will occur the weekend of April 18 and 19, has been moved this year to Brookings Drive, the grassy median in front of Brookings Hall. This is a break from previous years, when the carnival was held in the parking lot closest to Whitaker Hall.

The site has changed because of the reduction of parking lot space this year due to the construction of the Stephen F. and Camilla T. Brauer Hall, a new building for the Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering.

The responsibility of coordinating the carnival lies with ThurtenE Honorary, which selects its cohort every year.

The change in location has posed problems that the honorary has not previously experienced.

The setup of the façades traditionally made by Greek organizations for the carnival will constitute one challenge of the new location, according to junior Andrew Weisberg, co-chair of public relations in the Honorary.

“[The setup of façades] in itself is a challenge, because it will not be on concrete but on grass,” Weisberg said.

Dean Henry Biggs, director of the Undergraduate Research Office and faculty adviser to ThurtenE Honorary, said that this setup on the grass will be one of the carnival’s greatest obstacles this year.

“The challenge is going to be that we’re going to be on the grass this year. That involves a whole new technology called event decking,” Biggs said.

By putting down an event deck—temporary flooring that will protect the grass—fraternities and sororities will be able to display their façades on Brookings Drive.

The University will be providing funding for the event deck.

“The University has been incredibly helpful—administration, parking and transportation, WUPD,” Weisberg said.

The school has also provided construction hats and floodlights to help ensure students’ safety when building the façades.

Most of the fraternities and all of the sororities on campus will build façades, and more than 50 student groups will have booths to sell food and host fun events during the carnival.

The roller coasters and other rides traditionally set up at the carnival will be located in the reduced parking lot closest to Whitaker Hall.

Before the final decision was reached on this arrangement, students and faculty discussed the possibility of moving ThurtenE to somewhere off campus. One possibility at the time was West Campus.

“Alumni development and undergraduate admissions were very interested in ThurtenE staying on this campus and not sending off to West Campus,” Biggs said.

All proceeds from this year’s carnival, excluding the money allocated toward operating expenses, will go to the Foundation for Children with Cancer.

The charity provides financial support to families with children undergoing cancer treatment.

“When a child is diagnosed with cancer, the average cost for that family is over $623,000,” Weisberg said.

Although hospitals may negotiate with families with insurance, families still need to focus on paying other expenses and can benefit greatly from financial support, according to Weisberg.

A carnival “larger than the student body”

The carnival has brought the Washington University student body and the St. Louis community together since its inception in 1904.

Weisberg, a member of the University’s chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, believes that the carnival, “unlike an event like W.I.L.D., where it is mostly for the Wash. U. community, not only brings the community together but also brings in the St. Louis community.”

“When I grew up in St. Louis, the one thing I remember of Washington University is that ThurtenE Carnival was great. It became one of the events that is larger than the student body,” Biggs said.

Despite some students’ criticism of the honorary’s tradition in keeping the books closed, “the most important goal is to increase the interaction between the Washington University and St. Louis community and to maintain the self-funded carnival,” Weisberg said.

Rather than focusing on the amount of donations as a measure of success, Weisberg said the honorary is most invested in making sure that people enjoy the façades and that students who have worked diligently on the carnival take pleasure in the fruits of their labor.