Construction on campus has become an annual inevitability at Penn State during the past few years, and this year is no different.

As part of Penn State's master plan, new buildings are being constructed for many of the colleges, including the Smeal College of Business, the College of Agricultural Sciences, the Eberly College of Science and the School of Information Sciences and Technology, said Paul Ruskin, Office of Physical Plant spokesman.

Incoming freshmen have a lot to look forward to when the projects are completed, Ruskin said. Across Bigler Road from East Halls, several new buildings are being erected. The School of Forest Resources Building will connect to the new Smeal College of Business Building overlooking a meadow that will feed into the future arboretum across Park Avenue. To replace the demolished Parking Lot 80, the East Subcampus Parking Deck will be one of the first buildings constructed in that area of campus. The construction will create more open green space and cut down on "ugly parking lots," Ruskin said.

"It backs up the agricultural roots of the university," he added.

The construction may inconvenience students as they traverse the campus.

"We recognize we are having an impact on the routes people take," said Ruskin.

Ruskin recommends that students regularly visit the construction Web site http://www.opp. psu.edu/const to remain aware of possible detours.

Construction noise may disturb students in various areas of campus, but the university is doing everything it can to keep it to a minimum.

"We attempt to schedule our activities when the fewest number of people are around," said Ruskin.

In addition, they often opt for quieter equipment when they have the chance. For example, while drilling for the Chemistry Building, they picked a relatively quiet pneumatic device over a standard piledriver, Ruskin said. "We do whatever we can to minimize the noise," he added.

Charles H. Strauss, director of the School of Forest Resources and professor of forest economics, said freshmen interested in pursuing a forestry curriculum are coming at the perfect time. By their junior year, when most students begin to focus on core classes, the new facilities in the Forestry building will be operational.

"We're going to have triple capacity in the new computer labs," Strauss said.

The chemistry and life science buildings are nearing completion and will soon be available for instruction and research, said Daniel Larson, Eberly College of Science dean.

The chemistry building will contain mostly laboratories for upperclassmen and graduate students. The life sciences building will contain substantial classroom space. The science buildings will be connected over Shortlidge Road to emphasize both the symbolic and practical connections between the sciences.

"It's a statement about the future of science at Penn State," Larson said. "Chemistry is strongly connected to life sciences."