Public Welcome to Florida Tech Building Dedication

– On Friday, Jan. 28, Florida Tech will dedicate its third building funded by the F.W. Olin Foundation: the F.W. Olin Physical Sciences Building. The
70,000-square-foot three-story teaching and research facility is located next to the Olin-funded Engineering Complex off University Blvd. It will house the
university’s Department of Physics and Space Sciences and Department of
Chemistry. All dedication day events are free and open to the public.

At 1 p.m., Dr. Bernard Foing, the chief scientist of the European Space Agency (ESA), the European counterpart to NASA, will give a keynote address in the
new “high bay” physics lab. He will speak about ESA space projects, emphasizing the successful Huygens probe that recently landed on Saturn’s largest moon,
Titan.

At the formal dedication, at 3 p.m., also in the high bay physics lab, Dr. Anthony J. Catanese, Florida Tech president; Mr. Lawrence W. Milas, F.W. Olin
Foundation president; Dr. Allen S. Henry, chairman of the Florida Tech Board of Trustees, and Dr. Gordon L. Nelson, dean of Florida Tech’s College of
Science, will speak. Dr. Nelson will highlight research to be conducted in the new building.

“It’s interesting to note,” said Nelson, “that three of the four recent National Science Foundation research instrumentation grants to the university
support equipment for this building. This includes $347,000 for a telescope, $290,000 for a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, and $254,000 for space
weather research.

At approximately 3:45 p.m., the ribbon will be “cut” to officially open the new building. Dr. Nasri Nesnas, a chemistry faculty member and hobbyist
magician, will conduct a pyrotechnical ribbon cutting ceremony.

At 7 p.m., in the Life Sciences Building Auditorium (LSB-130), will be the first in a series of public lectures presented by the Department of Physics and
Space Sciences. Dr. Foing will present a public lecture summarizing the latest results from the SMART-1 lunar orbiter that is currently mapping the Moon’s
surface. Afterward, visitors will be invited to use the Olin Physical Sciences Building rooftop small telescopes to view a number of astronomical objects
such as Comet Machholz.

For more information, call Lynn McDivitt at 321-674-8795.