Lab Space Evaluation & Re-allocation at UC San Diego and CU Anschutz

In January of 2023, the University of California - San Diego (UCSD) released a report following the task force’s evaluation of the space allocation and procedures at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). In conducting their evaluation, they looked at 217 spaces and their allocation procedures to try and identify trends in how the space at the SIO was being allocated. Some of the principal findings of this report include the disproportionate space allocation between men and women where the size of the space being allocated, on average, was much greater for men than women.  In terms of lab space, women received about half of the space as men. Women view allocation policies as unfair and less transparent at higher rates than men do, and nearly have of the women surveyed said that they do not have enough space necessary to conduct their research. In contrast, only 6% of men surveyed felt that way.  The entirety of the final report from the Ad Hoc Task Force on Space Allocation includes further principal findings, data, and methodology.  Science published an article on the report including the following point about the inequity: “Also contributing are emeritus faculty, 86% of them men, who hold nearly one quarter of all space at SIO.”

Following the findings outlined in the report, recommendations were made to address the key findings from the task force. Some recommendations included leadership training, expanding the current SIO policy to better explain how new space is allocated, further commitments to better transparency, and instituting a space-evaluation process broader than their current annual process. That process is described as part of the SIO Space Policy released in 2023 and updated in 2024.  

The CU Anschutz Lab Cleanup and Space Evaluation has also launched an effort aimed at lab space evaluation and re-allocation but for different reasons.  They lacked the lab spaces they needed for incoming, newly-hired faculty.  In 2021, to gain a deeper understanding of existing lab space utilization and opportunities for improvement, they began a study that focused on 33 lab floors, all composed of a similar layout. Two teams walked 550,000 sq.ft. of laboratory space, giving a score to each lab ranging from underutilization to overly crowded, indicating the need to relinquish space and warrant the need for additional space, respectively. CU Anschutz found that they were not space constrained, but instead needed a more systematic space allocation approach to allow for future research growth.  They identified 44,000 square feet of lab space being used as storage that they cleaned up and prepared for future researchers to move into the space. 

CU Boulder’s recently released Climate Action Plan recommends on page 57 “a campus-wide space optimization program, including labs, which are the highest energy users”.  This will be a great step toward addressing our own research space utilization needs. The University of Colorado Boulder can learn from the findings and recommendations from both university efforts mentioned above to improve and optimize our own lab space usage. Continued review and evaluation of current space allocation and its policy is a pivotal part of assuring efficient and equitable lab space allocation.