Research Facilities 2025 Schedule

What you will learn: This course covers the basic elements of laboratory planning and facility design – upfront laboratory planning, laboratory programming, lab design, building design, and MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) system components. Participants will come away with a basic understanding of the terminology, concepts, processes, standards, numbers, types of scientific equipment, and furniture (as applicable) involved in laboratory planning and design. The course also serves as primer for the two-day conference that follows and will be highly interactive with Q&A throughout.

Who should attend: This one-day course is open to all who have interest in lab planning and design: project managers, facility planners and managers, lab managers, architects, engineers, construction engineers, researchers, and scientists employed at colleges and universities, hospital and healthcare facilities, pharmaceuticals, government labs, and A/E/C firms.

Space is limited and enrollment is subject to approval.

Cost:
$1,300 Fundamentals Course only
$1,100 with registration to two-day conference immediately following

(Fees include course materials, continental breakfast, refreshment breaks, lunch)

A hosted beer and wine bar along with light snacks will be served.

Attendees may sign-in and pick up their registration materials here, or the next morning at the conference ballroom foyer.

Guests welcome.

See the full list of participating exhibitors and event hosts.

The cutting-edge design of Roche's recently opened pRED Center fosters collaboration in novel ways to deliver transformative medicines to patients faster. Geo Adam profiles Roche’s new research workplace model and illustrates key features of the two high-rise laboratory buildings which raise the bar for flexibility and productivity, embrace digital technologies including big data and AI, and enable seamless experimentation to accelerate discovery. He examines decisions and solutions for equipment, infrastructure, shared resources, and lab/office/support ratios which bring together chemists, biologists and data scientists – all factors in pRED winning the SEFA Lab of the Year award.

Moving from traditional space use policies to the innovative solutions required today can be rocky, and here you’ll get insights from Augusta University’s space management model deployment for high-profile research space. Barbara Manley-Smith details the development, integration, and launch of a comprehensive space management system including criteria for effectiveness, precision metrics, and management guidelines. She identifies flexibility features for incorporating future metrics and modifying existing processes in response to changing research priorities, and the resources and processes to ensure effective culture change. She delivers hard-won findings on reassigning/reducing/enlarging space assignments based on the new space metrics.

This session delivers data-driven insights for solving the pressing problems research organizations are facing: Outdated facilities, underutilized space, high investment for low return, and meeting regulatory and compliance requirements. Session leaders demonstrate the analysis processes that identify opportunities and drive smarter decisions for moving forward, inspiring innovative planning and operational solutions, and unlocking the potential of both new facilities or renovations. They illustrate methods for overcoming data challenges, mining and synthesizing large data sets, visualizing and planning scenarios for the future, and implementing long term facility data management systems.

The interdisciplinary collaboration at USC Viterbi showcases the power of innovation across diverse fields. The inspiring and future-facing vision of project donors and the blending of diverse disciplines has led to a groundbreaking human-centered computing center: Ginsburg Hall. In this session, Tim Cowell and Reese Stevens document how this project was managed from a storytelling and donor recognition perspective, and the challenges, opportunities, and unexpected benefits encountered along the way. They provide valuable insights into how strategic partnerships enhance interdisciplinary projects using technology and branding to tell powerful stories that resonate with donors and stakeholders to drive innovation.

Lunch hosted by Vacuubrand.

With AI becoming ubiquitous, adaptable and scalable spaces for computation are in high demand to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and attract the best and brightest researchers. In this case study of University of Florida’s Malachowsky Hall for Data Science & Information Technology, presenters detail workplace strategies for labs, studios, offices, support spaces, and infrastructure requirements to enable faculty and researchers from medicine, pharmacy, and engineering to leverage AI and machine learning for complicated problems. They illustrate the balancing of competing needs from different stakeholder groups and synergizing disparate design elements, and they deliver benchmarks for space allocation and utilization, construction cost, and energy performance for this type of high-performance facility.

 

The rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will significantly reshape research practices and places – start preparing now! This session presents findings from a think tank including SmithGroup’s Science, Technology, and Climate Impact teams, national AI experts and research leaders and a client advisor, James Villarrubia, CTO/Applied AI Expert/NASA Presidential Fellow. Session leaders highlight critical issues identified and new concepts for the next generation of research spaces, and the clean energy infrastructure needed to support them. They illustrate the spatial implications of humanoid robots, the integration of humans and technology in research environments, the impact of computing on the energy grid, and the potential of data centers as energy generators. 

Environments for discovery, whether at a university, government agency, or in corporate R&D, must be nimble enough to adapt when thinking and research changes direction, or when new equipment or methodologies develop. The divergent lab is one that anticipates and adapts as needs change, supporting research by establishing a framework for the greatest variety of research directions while anticipating future demands as researchers continue to discover. Through case studies from Walker Chemical and Michigan Technological University, presenters set out strategies for ensuring continuity of forward-thinking culture and brand in labs and throughout the building. They provide renovation and new construction examples of adaptable planning, resiliency, wellness, and cultural development.

In this interactive session, panelists scope out ramifications and responses to proposed federal funding cuts. The conversation may include:

• strategies for minimizing risk
• cost of pausing in-process projects
• indirect cost recovery adjustments
• program consolidations
• space repurposing
• new partnership strategies
• operating cost reduction measures
• tariffs impact on project scope and budgets
• ...and more

Reception hosted by Siemens

(Guests welcome)

Hosted by SEFA Lab of the Year 

With AI becoming ubiquitous, adaptable and scalable spaces for computation are in high demand to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and attract the best and brightest researchers. In this case study of University of Florida’s Malachowsky Hall for Data Science & Information Technology, presenters detail workplace strategies for labs, studios, offices, support spaces, and infrastructure requirements to enable faculty and researchers from medicine, pharmacy, and engineering to leverage AI and machine learning for complicated problems. They illustrate the balancing of competing needs from different stakeholder groups and synergizing disparate design elements, and they deliver benchmarks for space allocation and utilization, construction cost, and energy performance for this type of high-performance facility.

 

In this session you’ll see space optimization and adaptive reuse strategies for a large-scale, multi-phase laboratory redevelopment project, including the speed bumps and lessons learned from project design through delivery. Presenters provide insight into the stakeholder engagement tools and synthetic lease financing method employed, and how the risk mitigation model played out throughout the project. They profile Syngenta’s new models and space metrics for the research workplace, supporting infrastructure, innovation, and customer engagement.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s strategic site plan is advancing innovation strategies through phased space repurposing, consolidation, and new construction on the sprawling 73-year-old research campus. Jennifer Hopping and Nathan Benedict set out LLNL’s vision for facilities and infrastructure that push the frontiers of science and technology in a rapidly changing world, and the pragmatic decisions being made to reconcile cost, existing conditions, specialized facility requirements, collaboration, and critical adjacencies. They set new targets for space utilization, efficiency, and flexibility, and implementation results to-date. They also examine planned investments aimed at employee well-being, recruitment, and retention.

Technology is becoming a vital tool for reducing costs, optimizing space, enhancing safety and security, and ensuring regulatory compliance. Here you’ll see how "smart building" solutions leverage data from connected devices and integrate streams to deliver sophisticated and actionable insights. Without adopting these technologies, organizations risk falling behind in sustainability, talent retention, and operational efficiency. Brian Haines demonstrates how to create and implement a successful smart buildings strategy, including the right mix of workplace management and smart building technologies, to improve your building's performance, occupant experience, and reduce environmental impact. 

News flash: Recent study data shows nearly half of lab workers identify as neurodivergent. How should that be informing decisions on scientific space design -- which has historically been sterile and sensory-intensive? Kay Sargent and Tim O’Connell illustrate the need for neuroinclusive design for all lab workers to enhance focus, innovation, and well-being. They illustrate what can be done in new construction and renovations to deliver environments supporting diverse cognitive styles and fostering creativity, productivity, and worker retention/recruitment for the next generation of scientific innovators. 

What should owners budget for cost escalation in 2025 and beyond as the Federal Reserve continues to reduce interest rates? What pricing structure should be used to accurately estimate costs for your research projects? Attend this session to get better pricing and more accurate budget figures, and better understand construction cost drivers for different research facilities. The Vermeulens team delivers up-to-date construction cost forecasts based on economic conditions, job creation and cost data from more than 200 projects. Using analyses of equities, GDP, construction labor markets and their national construction weather map, they illustrate regional construction pricing targets for the next two years and demonstrate bid and purchasing strategies that lock in costs and reduce risk.