Paul Olum Atrium, Willamette Hall

Opened in 1990, Willamette Hall serves as home to the Department of Physics. The four-story building, designed specifically for the physics department, contains numerous faculty offices, a 224-seat lecture hall, classrooms, and laboratories equipped with microcomputers to aid students in data acquisition and analysis. Significant funding from grants has provided up-to-date equipment for advanced laboratories in laser optics, electronics, and instrumentation.

The building also houses an atrium named after former university president and mathematician Paul Olum, as well as several works of art, including the mixed-media sculpture “Physics Wall” and a series of gargoyles depicting Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Marie Curie, and Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell. The Physics Reading Room offers a comfortable place for physics undergraduates to study and exchange ideas.