Lavanway said she does not expect the process to conclude before the end of Summer term.
The LSC, which is not yet fully completed, will be officially dedicated to the Class of 1978 in November, according to Thomas Jack, biology department chair.
The building will not be open to the public until September, and only a few undergraduates will conduct research in the new center in the meantime, Lavanway said.
"So far, students seem to really enjoy the space," she said. "It is fantastic for the intellectual community and having everyone back on campus is really important."
The LSC is "the most expensive and biggest" building Dartmouth has ever built, according to Jack. The construction cost was originally estimated at $93 million but was reduced by $7.5 million due to budget cuts, The Dartmouth previously reported. The Class of 1978 raised a portion of the finances for the Center's construction, Jack said.
"The facilities are fantastic," Jack said. "It is a state-of-the-art building."
The new building is on track to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Platinum certification the highest sustainability rating a building can receive, according to Jack.
"It will be the first large laboratory building in the United States with the LEED Platinum certificate," Jack said.
The building will better suit the needs of the biology department, by providing more classrooms, Lavanway said.
The new facility will include an auditorium that can accommodate 200 people and two classrooms that can fit 80 people, Lavanway said. Gilman's largest space is an auditorium with a 70-person capacity.
As the biology department has grown considerably over the last few years, the faculty has been fragmented and distributed among Gilman, Remsen Hall at Dartmouth Medical School and Centerra Bio Labs, according to Jack.
Some professors travel between Lebanon and Hanover multiple times per day to switch between researching and teaching, according to Jack.
"Having everyone back on campus is really important to our community," Lavanway said.
The new LSC was designed using an "open lab concept," with all the building's labs consolidated in one large, continuous space, Jack said.
"With these giant labs, six faculty labs may be in one big space, and they can use the space more efficiently," Jack said.
In addition to its inadequate size, Gilman was also unable to support the amount of energy needed to conduct the biology department's research, Jack said.
"Heating and electricity were maxed out," he said. "[Gilman] was opened in 1964 and the kind of things people were doing in biology then were a lot different than what they are doing now."
The plants in the greenhouse on Gilman's roof are scheduled to be transferred by Aug. 1, though the multiple-stage process has been underway since June, according to greenhouse assistant Theresa Berry. The new greenhouse offer improved energy efficiency, cooling system and physical aesthetic, Berry said.
"The facility will be beautiful," she said, adding that the greenhouse will be built with glass rather than polycarbon panes.
The new greenhouse, like the rest of the LSC, will also be more sustainable than the one at Gilman, Berry said.
"It is going to be much more energy efficient in terms of heating, of how to retain the heat in the winter and keep the plants cooler in the summer," she said.
The timing of the move is "optimal" because fewer classes are offered in the summer and the move will have a smaller impact on teaching, Berry said.
