“The admissions yield last year was at an all-time high,” science department chair Chris Matlack notes suggestively. Admissions visits aside, in the past year, Chris estimates he and others have led an average of a tour a week for visiting architects as well as teachers, administrators and trustees from both public and private secondary schools that are building new science centers or putting Harkness programs into place. “We are the ‘must-see’ in any new enterprise,” says Chris. “People want to see the facility, see the Harkness table in action and hear about the design process and the curriculum review that the science department conducted.”

The robotic telescope at Grainger Observatory (behind the playing fields) can now be operated remotely from Phelps and the data it collects viewed in Phelps classrooms.

With the computer science department housed in Phelps, the science and computer science faculties collaborate more easily on curricular issues. Interdisciplinary projects, such as one that combines astronomy and web design, are on the rise. The Peter Durham ’85 Computer Science Center is in constant use by students, and many departments use the computer classrooms for special projects such as demonstrating and testing discipline-specific software or working on group editing projects with a class.