Wachenheim Science Center
The Geosciences Department is located in Wachenheim Science Center, a purpose-built facility that opened its doors in January, 2021. The department occupies five floors at the south end of the building, home to our faculty and staff offices, research labs, and teaching spaces, as well as our sample prep and thin section lab, cold room, rock and field equipment storage facilities, paleontology, mineralogy, and sedimentology collections, student lounge and multiple student study nooks. Wachenhiem also hosts two GIS-capable computer labs, (one 24-seat and one 30-seat) as well as the state of the art 200-seat Bronfman Lecture Hall.
Beyond our departmental resources, the Williams College Science Center also has the following equipment available:
- Computerized ion chromatograph
- Atomic absorption spectrometer
- Coulter counter multisizer
- Photomicroscopy facilities
- Field emission Scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectrometer (Thermo Scientific Quattro S)
- Transmission electron microscope (JEOL JEM 1400-Plus)
- Atomic force microscope
- Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope (Nikon A1R HD High Definition Resonant Scanning Confocal)
- Complete machine shop equipped with a full complement of equipment, including CNC mill and 3-D printers
In addition, the College’s Schow Science library, located in the science center, supports astronomy, physics, biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, geosciences and psychology with a collection of over 100,000 volumes, seating for approximately 250 individuals, nine study rooms, an instruction lab and two classrooms.