Higher Education

Mount St. Mary's College held a dedication ceremony for $6 million in renovated and expanded science facilities in Los Angeles, Calif. on Oct. 29, 2007. At the new Seaver Science Center, the College renovated the classrooms and labs on the physical sciences floor and the biological sciences floor, including upgrades to the Physics Lab and the Instrumentation Lab. The Photolysis Lab was expanded, and two new labs were constructed, the Neurological Plasticity and Aging Lab and the Molecular Biology Research Lab. The facility also houses the newly created Ralph M.

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is planning the construction of a $12 billion research and applied sciences campus near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The cornerstone facility of the graduate research institution is expected to open in September of 2009. The University will accommodate research in biosciences, engineering, applied mathematics, computational sciences, materials science, and energy and environmental resources.

Purdue University completed the 26,000-sf LakeView Technology Center in Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, Ind. in late October of 2007. The facility houses the 7,800-sf InnerVision West magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) center with a 3-Tesla scanner for research and patient care. 8,300-sf of space at the LakeView Technology Center is occupied by tenant Simulex, Inc; the building also houses a 5,500-sf restaurant and a 1,500-sf coffee shop. An additional 10,000-sf of office or laboratory space for second-stage technology companies is available.

Purdue University dedicated the $53 million Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering in October of 2007. The 125,000-sf facility is home to two schools in the College of Engineering, the School of Materials Engineering and the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Designed to foster teamwork and interaction, the building contains 20,000 sf of research labs and 60,000 sf of undergraduate teaching facilities, including discipline-specific design labs. The project broke ground in October of 2004.

Iowa State University dedicated the new Dairy Animal Science Education and Discovery Facility on Oct. 20, 2007. Sited three miles south of the main ISU campus, the facility is a fully functional dairy farm of 450 milking cows used for teaching, research, and education. Accommodating research by faculty in Animal Science, Veterinary Medicine, and Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, the facility is also utilized by researchers from the National Animal Disease Center in Ames.

Wesleyan College completed the 42,000-sf Munroe Science Center in Macon, Ga., in August of 2007. The $12.5 million facility houses classrooms, offices, and laboratories for chemistry, physiology, ecology, behavioral neurosciences, and developmental, reproductive, cell, and molecular biology. Featuring 11 teaching laboratories, a rooftop greenhouse, astronomy platform, animal suite, environmental room, community learning center, and a built-in water purification system, the building was designed by Lord, Aeck & Sargent.

Thomas Jefferson University dedicated the 129,000-sf Dorrance H. Hamilton Building in Philadelphia on October 19, 2007. The six-story interdisciplinary health instruction facility will accommodate integrated education in nursing, medical, physical, and occupational therapy. The $60 million project includes classrooms, a 300-seat auditorium, a 60,000-sf plaza, and a 252-space underground parking garage. The two-floor Rector Clinical Skills Center features virtual diagnostic and surgical suites with mechanical patients and an anesthesia lab.

Indiana University Bloomington dedicated Simon Hall, known as Multidisciplinary Science Building I, on October 16, 2007. The $55.7 million, 141,084-gsf project features modular, flexible laboratories for interdisciplinary research. Housing biologists, chemists, physicists, and geneticists engaged in bioscience and genomics research, the facility also houses offices and conference space for the Linda and Jack Gill Center for Biomolecular Science and the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.

Rutgers University broke ground on the $150 million Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick on October 23, 2007. Slated for completion in 2010, the Institute is a joint venture between the University, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and the State of New Jersey. Supporting basic and translational research, clinical trials, and outpatient treatment, the 160,000-sf center will be located on five floors in an 18-story tower adjacent to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and across from the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

The 85,600-square-foot Arizona Biomedical Collaborative opened in Phoenix on Oct. 15, 2007. The $29.6 facility is a joint venture of Arizona State University and the University of Arizona. The first two floors will accommodate Arizona State University's department of biomedical informatics, with the top two floors housing laboratory space for the University of Arizona’s Phoenix medical school.

Colgate University completed construction of the 120,000-sf Robert Ho Science Center in Hamilton, N.Y. in October of 2007. The $56 million building houses the departments of environmental studies, geography, geology, physics, and astronomy, as well as part of the biology department. Designed by Shepley Bullfinch Richardson & Abbott, the center includes 40 research labs, 45 faculty offices, 13 teaching labs, seven classrooms, a 90-seat lecture hall/auditorium, a 60-seat visualization lab, a museum, and a teaching/research greenhouse.

Midwestern University is engaged in $140 million in capital improvements on its 11-year-old medical campus in Glendale, Ariz. The 130,000-sf Glendale Hall, housing Midwestern’s dental college, is slated for completion is summer of 2008. The 16,000-sf Barrel Student Center expansion will reach completion in spring of 2008. A 13,000-sf expansion of the medical research building will add space for faculty research and will be completed in spring of 2008.

The National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Research Resources has awarded the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center a $34-million Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) to establish the North and Central Texas Clinical and Translational Science Initiative (NCTCTSI).

The NIH’s National Center for Research Resources has awarded a $33.8 million Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) to the University of Iowa (UI) to establish the UI Institute for Clinical and Translational Science. The five-year grant will support collaborative translational research with all eleven of the University of Iowa’s colleges and approximately 40 centers and institutes, as well as Iowa State University and the University of Arizona.

Yale University School of Medicine opened an $88.6 million translational research facility in New Haven, Conn., on Oct. 5, 2007. The 110,000-sf building houses laboratories for three interdisciplinary programs: the Interdepartmental Program in Vascular Biology and Therapeutics; the Human and Translational Immunology Program; and the Yale Stem Cell Center. The sustainably designed facility supports biomedical and clinical research.