The Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) announced Monday that it would award the Carl J. Shapiro Science Center with the SCUP Excellence in Planning for a District or Campus Component Honor Award. SCUP awards multiple distinguished certificates annually as part of its Excellence Awards Program.

The Shapiro Science Center divides its space between teaching labs and research labs. The Science Center was designed to mimic a functional laboratory environment, fostering many elements of the research world, according to Professor Melissa Kosinski-Collins (BIOL).

“We have state-of-the-art equipment for the undergraduates including an AFM (Atomic Force Microscope), fluorescence microscopes and fluorimeters,” Kosinski-Collins said.

Following the opening of the Shapiro Science Center in February 2009, Brandeis is equipped with multiple research facilities. Among these facilities are an X-Ray Structure Determination Facility; the University Mass Spectromety Facility (BUMS); the University Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility (BrUNMR); and a machine shop, and an array of state-of-the-art instruments.

“The labs ask the students to participate in research-style experiments in which they create their own mutant protein of Human gamma D crystallin (a protein involved in cataracts) and identify a potential new gene of the Ptpmeg pathway in flies (a pathway which may have applicability to human cancers),” Kosinski-Collins said.

Currently SCUP has 5,000 members from 24 countries around the world. Its mission is to teach members how to establish institutional planning goals and to help institutions develop challenging and successful learning environments.