Boston University Today, Oct. 29, 2008 UTMB's Joan Nichols is quoted in this article that states that the Galveston National Laboratory sustained no damage from Hurricane Ike and also describes the phased-shutdown procedures that UTMB follows when the Texas coast might be threatened by a hurricane. "We had enough time, and had planned so well, that those last two days were not panicked. They were about consolidating our animals as much as possible, getting the university itself ready with its facilities plan to fall back to essential areas that would have emergency power and emergency chilling through the storm. All of this was taken care of well before landfall. So the Friday before the storm was actually kind of quiet," Nichols said. Alisha Prather, communications director for the lab, also is quoted: "You hate to have to be tested like this, but we passed. We were able to test the new building in a hands-on experience. There was no active research and no agents in the building at the time, and so you're left with the ability to truly test your mechanics. And it went really well."