I met with the members of the lab. They were all fantastic. I would have taken a pay cut to work with this group. The Hammer Health Sciences building, however, is just atrocious. The floors were sticky, the ceilings were low. The ventilation was poor. The elevators were slow. Every inch of lab and office space was occupied and the hallways were used for storage. The drinking fountains were shut off from what I understand was some kind of Listeria contamination. The Soviet-style classroom they had reserved for my talk was occupied by some undergraduate who was studying. She refused to leave. I honestly don't see how they can attract top-notch talent until they improve these facilities substantially. Given this and the astronomical house prices in New York I wasn't willing to work on-site more than 2 days a week, which was (understandably) not acceptable to the director.