The following story originally appeared on the website for W&M’s Batten School & VIMS. – Ed.

On April 10, students, staff and faculty at William & Mary’s Batten School & VIMS joined university leadership and state representatives to celebrate the newest building on the Gloucester Point campus. First envisioned in 2016, Chesapeake Bay Hall serves as a hub for much of the lab-based science driving the institutions’ academic, research and advisory missions.

“The addition of this state-of-the-art research facility to our campus marks a milestone in the storied, 85-year history of VIMS,” remarked Derek Aday, dean of the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences and director of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, during a brief ceremony that also included Virginia Senator Ryan McDougle, Representative Chad Green, W&M Provost Peggy Agouris and W&M Rector Charles E. Poston. “Each of the research areas housed in this building help ensure that we stay squarely focused on and ahead of the challenges faced by coastal communities by providing practical solutions and science-based advice to our policy makers, stakeholders and coastal citizens.”

“This remarkable building, along with the new undergraduate degree in coastal and marine sciences, represents the incredible opportunities ahead for both current and future students,” Provost Agouris added. “As William & Mary recognizes the Year of the Environment, it’s especially fitting to celebrate this space where students and faculty will be immersed in innovative research and transformative learning.”

The ceremony continued with brief remarks by Poston, McDougle and Green. Afterward, participants were welcomed inside the new building for self-guided tours featuring representatives from more than a dozen laboratories.   

Essential advisory services

The Batten School & VIMS are among the world’s leading institutions for coastal and marine sciences, due to their vision that research, education, and advisory services can work complimentarily to advance the academic, economic and environmental interests of Virginia.

“We are appreciative that VIMS recognizes how important it is to take academic and educational research and turn it into something that directly impacts the commonwealth and the business environment,” said Senator McDougle.

Construction of the three-story, 68,240-square-foot Chesapeake Bay Hall—adorned with a large map of the Chesapeake Bay on its northern end—was funded by the Commonwealth of Virginia at a cost of $76 million. The building consolidates and upgrades the laboratories of dozens of researchers in an environment that promotes safety, efficiency and collaboration.

“One of the best things about this building is the way that it is organized. It’s going to foster a lot of interdisciplinary engagement that will benefit our translational research and the education of our students,” said Professor Ryan Carnegie, director the Shellfish Pathology Lab, whose staff were testing samples of juvenile oysters traveling into the state for diseases just hours before it hosted tours.

Training future scientists

This fall, the Batten School will welcome its first class of William & Mary undergraduates majoring in coastal and marine sciences. The addition of Chesapeake Bay Hall’s cutting-edge research facilities, backed by transformative philanthropic support, will aid in the recruitment of the most promising undergraduate and graduate students dedicated to finding solutions for issues impacting Virginia and beyond.

Liam Green is an MS-bypass student studying under the mentorship of Assistant Professor Meredith Evans Seeley, whose research focuses on the impacts of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems. They were busy providing tours of Seeley’s laboratory, which benefits from advanced instruments that can detect and analyze even the smallest samples of plastic found in the environment.  

“I feel like a kid in a candy shop, having a brand-new laboratory and seeing it built from the ground up” said Green, who hopes to pursue a career in environmental research and teaching. “A lot of what we’re doing right now is setting up the new equipment that was installed in the lab so that we can build up a reference library for all of the environmental samples we will be collecting this summer.”

Chesapeake Bay Hall also incorporates a focus on public outreach and engagement, with a first-floor teaching lab available for hosting groups wishing to learn more about the application of marine and coastal sciences.

Advancing global solutions

Assistant Professor Manuel Colombo is a broadly trained biogeochemist and oceanographer who strives to understand the complex interactions between trace elements and organic carbon across diverse ecosystems. He has worked everywhere from the Amazon to the Arctic Ocean, and some of the equipment found in his lab is so sensitive that he and his students must follow strict procedures to prevent the contamination of research samples.

“One of the core areas of my research is in coastal environments, where steep biological, chemical and physical gradients shape the movement and transformation of materials. I focus on understanding the processes that drive chemical distributions from rivers to the open ocean — large, dynamic and interconnected systems that are both scientifically fascinating and challenging to study,” said Colombo. “The new building allows me to work at both ends of the spectrum — from ultra-clean trace element analysis to sophisticated organic geochemistry — because it has the proper space and specialized equipment to process a wide variety of samples.”

Designed for sustainability and adaptation

Chesapeake Bay Hall was designed by architectural firm Baskervill. Construction was overseen by Kjellstrom and Lee and began in 2022. It was built to LEED Silver Certification standards, incorporating elements designed to reduce energy consumption, maximize water resources, promote the use of recycled materials and enhance the safety of its occupants.

The building was also designed to support existing needs while providing flexibility to adapt for future uses. Whether it’s analyzing the distribution of rare-earth elements in arctic currents, testing shellfish for diseases that could impact Virginia’s thriving aquaculture industry, studying the effects of environmental pollutants on marine life or hosting a class of eighth-grade aspiring scientists, Chesapeake Bay Hall ensures the Batten School & VIMS will remain at the forefront of coastal and marine sciences for decades.