Water lab washes away woodshop

The recent decision to close the school's woodshop to make room for a new water lab has left some students miffed.

The woodshop is closed for the rest of the semester and it is unclear if it will be relocated. The woodshop was located in Anderson Hall's Engineering Project and Development Center (EPDC).

Construction for the water lab has not yet started.

Environmental engineering professor Linfield Brown said that the department still does not know much about the planned water lab other than it is still in development. Brown currently has no plans for using the new lab.

The new water lab was initiated by the new Dean of Engineering Linda Abriola, whose background is in environmental engineering on groundwater hydrology and contaminant fate and transport.

"Dean Abriola came to Tufts and part of her new plans for the school included this lab, which will serve primarily as a research lab for environmental engineers," former director of the woodshop Robert Lind said.

Abriola has been out of town for the past couple of weeks and was unavailable to comment.

Despite the new addition of a water lab, many students are upset about the woodshop's closure.

"I loved that woodshop," junior engineering student Todd Ryan said. Ryan is among several engineering students who relied heavily on the woodshop for projects that were needed for classes and for their own recreation.

Ryan is currently working on a petition to persuade the University to bring the woodshop back to the engineering building. "I can't say enough good things about this shop. It was little known, but it was widely used by those who knew of it.

According to Ryan, who served as an engineering teaching assistant (TA) in the woodshop, basic materials provided by the shop included wood, screws, nails, and glue. "Materials were not very expensive, mostly everything was already in place, and the only other costs were the TA's pay and replacing old tools," Lind said.

Combined, Lind said that the TAs worked approximately 30 hours a week. He estimated the cost of running the woodshop was around $3,000 per semester.

Ryan said Lind had done a superior job maintaining free resources and materials for the students to use. Ryan added that if a student felt a certain unavailable material would be widely used, Lind would sometimes purchase that material himself for the student and the woodshop.

The woodshop was open to all students, regardless of whether they were enrolled in the School of Engineering. Students were required to take a safety test before operating machinery and given instruction on how to use unfamiliar tools, Ryan said.

Lind was an invaluable resource for the students, Ryan said. "Bob Lind and the rest of the TA staff were always on hand and willing to help with projects and teach students how to use the tools in a safe manner," Ryan said. "For me, it was a great job because I became proficient on all the power tools, made many projects for myself, and was able to help others with theirs'."

Sophomores Ilya Lozovsky and Jordan Levie used the woodshop earlier in the year to construct various items for their Latin Way suite, including a spice rack for their kitchen and a roll-out bench for their room.

"We really just wanted to have more convenient stuff for our suite and it just seemed like it would be more fun and a little cheaper to just make these things ourselves," Lozovsky said. Both students were impressed with the materials supplied, which greatly lowered their construction costs.

Ryan said common projects included tables and bookshelves for apartments, and projects for engineering classes.

"It was a really great resource that we are missing greatly, especially in courses like ES93: 'Electronic Musical Instrument Design,'" Ryan said.

Lozovsky said he had been looking forward to working on future projects and was unaware the shop had closed. "I wish I could have had more say in the matter," he said. "I think the woodshop gets plenty of use from students and I don't see why it needs to close."