The historic West Point Military Academy has a long history of teaching the sciences, which are required courses for all graduating cadets. But while the study of biology, chemistry and physics has evolved since 1802, when the West Point, N.Y.-based school was built, the school's neo-Gothic structures that house those disciplines have not—at least, not enough to support the advanced research occurring within these disciplines. The structures are, as one science professor describes them, "cramped and old."
The school has set out to change that with a two-phase, seven-year, interior-only renovation project—the science hall's most extensive upgrade to date. It is now in its second phase that, when completed, will transform the Bartlett Hall Science Center into a state-of-the-art facility.