New west wing of Martha Van Rensselaer Hall is opened

Human Ecology students try out the equipment in the new human performance laboratory in Martha Van Rensselaer Hall's west wing, Nov. 1. They are, from right, Trayor Lesnock '04, Nina Senesac '04, Luana Shen '05 and Matt Goldstein '03. Charles Harrington/University Photography

By Susan Lang

The new west wing of Martha Van Rensselaer Hall on the Cornell campus doesn't have an oval office, but it does have a state-of-the-art human metabolic research unit, which includes an exercise room, kitchen and four-person overnight ward for studying human nutrition and performance. It also boasts a food analysis laboratory, an interactive distance learning/conference room and an electronic classroom with a ceiling mounted data/video projector and speakers, two large, high definition video screens and computer-aided design workstations.

The just-completed 18,000-square-foot addition, which was begun in early 1999, was officially dedicated Nov. 1 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that included Patsy Brannon, dean of Cornell's College of Human Ecology; New York state Sen. Randy Kuhl (R-C-52nd Dist.); state Assemblyman Marty Luster (D-125th Dist.); State University of New York Construction Fund official Christopher Marcella; Cornell Vice Provost for Land Grant Affairs Francille M. Firebaugh; and numerous alumni and friends of the college.

"Cornell's Division of Nutritional Sciences is one of the world's premier academic programs devoted to the study of nutrition," said Brannon. "The new wing upgrades the division's abilities to maintain its excellent research and teaching in the role of diet and disease, malnutrition in developing countries, nutrition and genomics, and the community and public health nutrition programs."

The addition includes a 487-square-foot laboratory for human performance that allows researchers to study the effects of nutrition on physical work capacity, energy expenditure and physical activity and metabolic responses to exercise. The ability to measure metabolic function allows researchers to assess nutritional status and the response to nutritional interventions.

The 539-square-foot food analysis laboratory was designed to facilitate the study of the composition and chemical properties of food. Human feeding experiments conducted in the metabolic research unit will involve the development of special menus that have a very specific nutrient composition. This lab will enable students to analyze these diets and provide quality control for the research diets.

One of the wing's two new 2,058-square-foot lecture halls, each with 140 seats, will be a fully equipped interactive distance-learning room. The facility will allow a live dialogue between Cornell students and off-site speakers at multiple remote locations. The hall includes touch pad microphones/data ports for seated students and front mounted speakers for program playback.

The west wing, which was designed by HOLT Architects, connects with the south wing of the MVR structure, built in 1933, and the north wing, built in 1967 and now closed due to structural damage. The new addition also includes a loading dock and receiving area, as well as an entryway from the upper parking lot level. The exterior was designed to incorporate architectural features of both the original building and north wing.