Viktor Nemykin heads up a chemistry department that’s ranked second in the world for its polymer program and boasts the third largest number of undergraduate credit hours on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville campus.
As solid as the department’s foundation is academically, it couldn’t be standing on shakier ground physically.
The department operates out of a 113 thousand square foot Buehler Hall that’s slowing sliding off the hill it sits on.
“The longer we wait the worse this building will get and the last thing I want to see is the national news you know somewhere, look at this chemistry building has collapsed in Knoxville,” said Nemykin.
Nemykin took over the university’s chemistry department in 2020 with the initial goal of renovating the 50-year-old building. Those plans quickly changed when an engineering report detected major structural problems that are now expected to make the building completely inoperable in 5 to 10 years.
University leadership decided it made more financial sense to spend $200 million to build a new chemistry building instead of $130 million to renovate Buehler Hall.
Chemistry research no place for building challenges
Even before engineers provided dire predictions about Buehler Hall’s foundation, the conditions inside the building were less than ideal for students and staff conducting chemistry experiments and research.
Buehler Hall has cracks in its walls large enough to fit a finger through and roof leaks are a frequent problem. A flood last Christmas impacted rooms three floors down.
The building also suffers from inadequate heating, old plumbing, and expensive power outages.
“A lot of instruments we have they need to run 24 – 7 and since we have too many, you know, power outages, that’s just basically just ruining those instruments and that costs a lot because we need to repair those on a regular basis.”
Nemykin says equipment repairs are costing the department tens of thousands of dollars each year and the true cost may go even further.
Inadequate building conditions create challenges attracting quality staff to work in the building.
“It hinders our ability to recruit faculty candidates. It hinders our ability to recruit top graduate students,” said Nemykin. “It hinders our ability to grow in undergraduate research because obviously no one wants to work in a busted lab right? It’s counterproductive and quite depressing to be honest with you.”
Funding still uncertain
Last year the university started the design phase to replace Buehler Hall and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission ranked that replacement as its top priority.
The commission presented a $165 million state funding request to help close the gap to pay for the project during Governor Bill Lee’s budget hearings last November. The project has yet to receive a green light for funding and Nemykin says the university is now working convince lawmakers to add it to the state’s budget.
He says the total impact of inaction could extend beyond the university’s campus because it’s not just chemistry students who use the deteriorating building.
Pre-med, pre-pharmacy, and engineering students take chemistry classes along with business and horticulture students and it would be a challenge to relocate them to classrooms in another building if Buehler Hall collapses.
Nemykin says the university doesn’t currently have another building with the necessary infrastructure to fully accommodate chemistry equipment.
“All of those generate a lot of workforce for Tennessee right and also the chemistry industry in Tennessee is third largest recruiting buddy in Tennessee. So that means that we are employing a lot of our undergraduate and graduate students,” said Nemykin. “It’s all connected.”
