New home dedicated for earth sciences at ASU

The new home of ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration was formally dedicated on Wednesday with a grand opening ceremony and forum.  SESE shares the building with a number of engineering programs.

The Interdisciplinary Science & Technology Building 4 (ISTB4, right. Credit ASU) "is the single largest research building at ASU, with roughly 300,000 square feet of premier high-technology research laboratories, office areas, and collaboration spaces specifically designed to promote transdisciplinary team interactions."

The construction took over 70 million pounds of concrete (>20,000 cubic yards), 837 tons of structural steel, and 1,855,149 feet of wire (all of which had to be mined by the way).

The main floor is set up like an interactive science museum with a spectacular giant globe where visitors choose what planet-wide phenomena to view.  Video screens are everywhere, but your attention is drawn to the Mars operation center behind a wall of glass, with live feeds from the Red Planet.   A Mars rover sits just inside the main doors and a wide variety of ASU's extensive meteorite collection is on display on the second floor veranda.