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A new state-of-the-art science center at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks officially opens

The new Swenson Science Center at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks
KCLU
The new Swenson Science Center at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks

The three-story 47,000 square foot Swenson Science Center at Cal Lutheran cost $34 million and is being dedicated on Friday.

The building features 12 labs for teaching and eight for faculty and student research in chemistry, biology and exercise science.

There are labs for biomechanics, organic synthesis, physiology and neuroscience, marine biology, cell and developmental genetics, exercise physiology ergometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance.

The facility is being dedicated Friday, after the pandemic postponed its full use and dedication.

Associate Professor Jason Kingsbury says the facility more than doubles the space dedicated to science at the university.

"This building has all the bells and whistles that an R1, or research intensive or Carnegie ranked institution would have," he told KCLU.

"We have inert gases that are capable of being hooked up to every fume hood or bench space.

"One of things I'm really excited about is that we have a thing called a Thunderbolt tank outside. It is a way to store liquid nitrogen under pressure so that we never run out," he said.

Construction of the center finished in summer 2020, but the pandemic postponed its full use and dedication until this semester.

The dedication ceremony takes place at 3pm on Friday October 22.

The public can register at https://bit.ly/3zGLMcj to attend and tour the building afterward. Refreshments will be served at 2.45pm. Attendees must comply with the visitor policy found at CalLutheran.edu/visitors, which includes completing a health check.

Cal Lutheran is the parent of KCLU.

Caroline joined KCLU in October 2020. She won LA Press Club's Audio Journalist of the Year Award in 2022 and 2023.

Since joining the station she's won 7 Golden Mike Awards, 4 Los Angeles Press Club Awards and 2 National Arts & Entertainment Awards.

She started her broadcasting career in the UK, in both radio and television for BBC News, 95.8 Capital FM and Sky News and was awarded the Prince Philip Medal for her services to radio and journalism in 2007.

She has lived in California for ten years and is both an American and British citizen - and a very proud mom to her daughter, Elsie.