More than 7,000 URI students take chemistry classes each year. If you are one of them, you’ll be learning in the new, $68 million Beaupre Center for Chemical and Forensic Sciences, which opened its doors in early September.

This is good news and great chemistry. The 134,623-square–foot, state-of-the-art Beaupre Center contains 14 teaching labs and 18 faculty research labs, houses the Department of Chemistry, including its undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs, and is home to a federal Center of Excellence for Explosives Detection, Mitigation and Response.

Chemistry is the building block and the bedrock for the health sciences, biotechnology, energy, pharmacy, nursing, and high technology.

The 240-seat Victor J. Baxt Lecture Hall and a 95-seat lecture hall are on the Center’s main level. Each is equipped with demonstration hoods with a camera mounted inside each hood, allowing professors to project their laboratory lessons to large screens for viewing. The Beaupre Center also has a 30-seat classroom and the Teknor Apex Instrumentation Lab.

Funded in large part by a $61 million bond issue approved by Rhode Island voters, the Center is named for alumnus Richard Beaupre ’62, founder and CEO of ChemArt, a longtime supporter of the University who made a major gift to support the project.

The Center underscores the University’s commitment to the sciences and research, serving as a hub for leading faculty who conduct research in such areas as developing advanced batteries to fuel energy efficient automobiles, improving resolution in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, and creating new clinical methods for early disease detection.

“Science is at the heart of innovation and discovery, and chemistry is the foundation for numerous scientific disciplines,” said President David M. Dooley.

“It is in this sector where our faculty are discovering new ways to fight terrorism, disease, environmental degradation and threats to public health. Chemistry is the building block and the bedrock for the health sciences, biotechnology, energy, pharmacy, nursing, and high technology. And now with the opening of this building, we provide our faculty and students with the very best teaching and learning tools.”