Industry News

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will break ground in August of 2010 on the Laboratory for Ocean Sensors and Observing Systems in Woods Hole, Mass. Designed by Ellenzweig Architecture, the project was awarded $8.1 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding by NIST in January of 2010. Completion is expected by summer of 2012.

Georgetown University was awarded $6.9 million in stimulus funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology in January of 2010. The grant will support the creation of the Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology as well as construction of the university's 155,000-sf science center where the institute will be housed. Ground was broken on the science center in summer of 2008 with occupancy expected in fall of 2012.

The University of Kentucky will begin construction in late summer of 2010 on a 36,000-sf energy research facility in Lexington. Located in the Spindletop Research Park, the project represents an expansion of the nearby Center for Applied Energy Research. The $15.8 million project was awarded $11.8 million in stimulus funding in January of 2010 by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The facility will support research into biofuels, biomass, wind, and solar energy.

The Working Group on Strengthening the Biosecurity of the United States released a report in January of 2010 that recommends a new system for the handling, storage, and management of select agents used in research. The report proposes a stratified system that would implement more controls for the most hazardous agents and less stringent requirements for agents of lower risk.

The University of Maryland will begin construction in 2010 on the $15.5 million Laboratory for Advanced Quantum Science (LAQS) in College Park. Part of the planned Physical Sciences Complex, the underground facility will feature laboratories with advanced building systems to minimize noise, vibration, humidity, and temperature fluctuations.