Boston U. Dedicates Science Complex

BOSTON--Boston University officials yesterday said they would dedicate a new, $100 million science and engineering center, a four-block-long complex of new and renovated buildings.

The center, which contains laboratories, classrooms, lecture halls, advanced computers and a library, is being named in honor of Dr. Arthur G.B. Metcalf, a local industrialist and chairman of the university's board of directors.

The university said in a statement that the Metcalf Center represents the kind of commitment to strengthen scientific and technical education at the college level called for by a recent National Science Foundation report.

BU officials also said the Commonwealth Avenue project shows the university's commitment to the revitalization of the Kenmore Square area.

U.S. Rep. John J. Moakley, D-Mass., delivered the keynote address, and physicist Se Hee Ahn, president of Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, received an honorary degree.

Massachusetts Health and Education Financing Authority bonds paid for $69 million of the project. Gifts and grants covered $29.5 million and $2 million in university endowment funds paid for the rest, BU officials said.