After two years, 65,000 square feet and an estimated $70 million dollars later, the Nucleus Science Center — an expansion to the Nucleus West, previously named the W.M. Keck Science Center — has opened.
The new building, named Nucleus East, boasts 14 new teaching laboratories in addition to classrooms, collaborative spaces, a computer lab, faculty offices and a greenhouse.
“The opening of the Nucleus to date has been smooth and there has been much excitement from both faculty and students,” Ulysses J. Sofia, dean of the natural sciences department and physics professor, said in an email to TSL.
This joint project between Scripps College and Pitzer College follows 58 years of sharing the Keck Science Center with Claremont McKenna College in a collaboration between the three institutions.
The former center offered 13 majors, but with the addition of the Nucleus East and CMC’s exit from Keck, department heads hope to hire new tenured faculty and expand on learning opportunities. This initiative features enhanced interdisciplinary offerings such as the new art conservation major.
“There are ongoing conversations among faculty about further integrating the sciences with non-science disciplines,” Janet Sheung, assistant professor of physics, said.
According to Sheung, most discussions around new learning opportunities will remain in the air until CMC’s Robert Day’s Science Center is completed in the fall of 2025.
Sheung added that due to the massive shift in demographics that will occur when CMC students move to their new building, faculty will want to see how student enrollment will stabilize before determining how to proceed.
To help acclimate community members to the Nucleus’ layout, open house tours were conducted Friday, Sept. 6. The building has also been equipped with digital maps that allow students to quickly locate their destination.
However, some students have expressed initial confusion and difficulty locating classes due to the name changes of the buildings.
“I did not know Keck was renamed to ‘Natural Sciences’ and the new building was named Nucleus West,” Jessica Gonzales Rodriguez SC ‘25 said. “For one of my classes, my professor calls the building ‘Old Keck’ to refer to the other side of the building.”
Despite some confusion, students like Alondra Cobian SC ‘25 have enjoyed the new addition to the Scripps College campus.
“Honestly, I prefer classes at the Nucleus versus at Keck,” Cobian said. “It’s more convenient to where I dorm and it has more study spaces. It also feels more welcoming and open.”
However, despite opening at the start of the semester, the east wing of the building is still not fully operational. Some spaces such as the second floor, which will house new faculty and research laboratories, only started construction over summer break.
As for future improvements, department heads are looking to renovate the Nucleus East’s existing classrooms and laboratories, as well as construct a maker space.
“Faculty and the department as a whole have been really excited to talk about re-envisioning programs and course offerings now that the building is complete,” Sheung said.