Inside UW-Madison’s new Chemistry Tower: modern labs, study spaces and a ‘library of the future’

Goodbye, crowded chemistry labs. So long to space crunches so severe that some 20% of UW-Madison students took introductory organic chemistry at a different university.

UW-Madison opened its gleaming nine-story Chemistry Tower to students this semester after months of construction delays. The new building at 1101 University Ave. will ease enrollment bottlenecks that have plagued the department for decades.

Chemists look for ways to assess and improve indoor air quality

In a city teeming with traffic, it’s common to smell exhaust and other air pollutants on the street. But air pollution doesn’t always stay outside. Fluctuations in outdoor air quality can cause changes in indoor air pollution, which can lead to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and can adversely affect pregnancies, according to the National Institutes of Health.