12 to Midnight

This five-story brick building built in 1949 was named after a Russian scientist who defected to the US and made the college his home. Although Dr. Abrimov’s defection to Pinebox was celebrated at the time, within five years he had created a reputation for a level of belligerence that matched his astronomical intelligence. Even his colleagues joked that perhaps he hadn’t defected but rather foisted upon the US. The scientist’s laboratory was moved from the top floor to the second basement, where he continued his research until his death–officially ruled a lab accident–in 1961.

The somewhat grungy and ill-lit lecture halls in the Abrimov Sciences building still service undergraduate classes in Chemistry and Biology. Although the learning labs were renovated in the 1980s, the facilities barely meet modern safety requirements. By contrast the two basement levels were completely renovated in 2004 thanks to a Homeland Security grant. Today researchers look for ways to rapidly react to potential bio-terrorism vectors. Although ETU administrators insist that nothing harmful is kept in the basement levels, only faculty researchers and trusted graduate students are allowed on those floors.