Industry News

Vanderbilt University initiated construction in August 2005 on the Institute of Imaging Sciences (VUIIS) in Nashville, Tenn. Slated for completion in summer of 2006, the $26.7-million project will house a new $7-million, 7-tesla magnet on the ground floor that will be shielded with 400 metric tons of steel. The magnet will be installed in December 2005 and will be used in medical research for near-term identification of therapies and disease cures.

Sonoma State University has completed its LEED® Silver-certified Student Recreation Center in Rohnert Park, Calif. Designed by Irvine-based LPA, the building features a 40-foot high climbing/bouldering wall and a student gathering space. The building is the first on campus to use the LEED® rating system as a guideline for design. Utilizing proper orientation and an efficient exterior skin, the facility is 50 percent more efficient than a typical Title 24 building.

Construction began in early July 2005 on a new $6.6-million facility for New Mexico's Sevilleta Research and Education Center.

The University of Chicago will begin construction in fall 2005 on the $31-million Howard T. Ricketts Laboratory, a germ research facility to be located at Argonne National Laboratory, which the University manages for the federal government.

Swansea University will complete construction of its Institute of Life Science in South West Wales by year-end 2006. The six-story biology-based research facility will house a business incubator to develop commercial applications of scientific discoveries. The building will also feature a very large research computer, Blue C, in a laboratory with an area called the Virtual Reality Cave.