Higher Education

Indiana University Bloomington broke ground on the $37 million Cyberinfrastructure Building on April 29, 2010. The three-story, 123,000-sf facility will house over 600 employees, consolidating the university’s information technology staff in a single location. The project includes a videoconferencing suite and a 230-seat conference center. LEED Silver sustainable design certification will be sought for facility. Occupancy is expected in September of 2011.

The University of Western Ontario broke ground on the $23.6 million Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment Dome in late April of 2010. Located in the Advanced Manufacturing Park in London, Ontario, the facility will feature a hexagonal wind tunnel to simulate high-intensity wind systems such as tornadoes. The project is created in partnership with Fanshawe College and the city of London. Construction will begin on the facility in fall of 2010 with completion slated for June of 2012.

The University at Buffalo is partnering with National Grid to build a video-linked biomedical engineering center in Buffalo, N.Y. Providing connections to the three UB campuses and state industry partners, the access grid facility will support collaborative research and technology transfer will real-time teleconferencing. The project is supported by $250,000 in funding from National Grid.

The University of Wyoming is partnering with General Electric to build the $100 million High Plains Gasification-Advanced Technology Center in Cheyenne. Construction will begin on the facility in 2011 with completion expected in late 2012. The facility will support clean energy production and research.

Marquette University broke ground in spring of 2010 on the $50 million Engineering Hall in Milwaukee. The five-story, 115,000-sf science building will house offices, common areas, teaching and research laboratories, the Discovery Learning Laboratory, and a two-story engineering materials and structural testing lab. Occupancy is expected in fall of 2011. The facility will be connected to a planned 150,000-sf building that will provide labs, classrooms, and offices. 

Johns Hopkins University will initiate a renovation of the New Engineering Building in Baltimore in June of 2010. Located on the Homewood campus, the project will support research on the physics of cancer for the Whiting School of Engineering. The facility will include laboratories and office space. Construction will also begin in June of 2010 on the six-story Brody Learning Commons. Designed to accommodate technology-driven, collaborative learning, the commons is expected to open in July of 2012.

The University of Guelph is planning to construct the $18 million Centre for Biodiversity Genomics in Guelph, Ontario. Designed by HOK, the facility will house laboratory space for genome sequencing and bar coding. The two-story building will serve as the headquarters for the International Barcode of Life Project (iBOL).

The University of Leicester will begin construction in early summer of 2010 on a £15 million animal research facility in the United Kingdom. The project will provide biomedical research laboratories and vivarium space for mice and rats. Completion is expected in early 2011.

The University of Queensland will begin construction in May of 2010 on a $6.9 million dairy research and teaching facility on its Gatton campus. The project will include laboratories, classrooms, and space for 250 milking cows. Occupancy is expected in late 2010.

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire will begin construction in late fall of 2010 on a $48.8 million student center. The three-story, 170,000-sf facility is slated for occupancy in late summer of 2012. A $44.5 million, 154,000-sf education building providing classrooms and departmental space is in the design phase with construction expected to begin in 2012.

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore will begin construction in September of 2012 on a $103 million engineering building in Princess Anne, Md. The 163,000-sf facility will house laboratories, production space, classrooms, and faculty offices for the Department of Engineering and Aviation Sciences. Occupancy in expected in September of 2014.

Michigan State University broke ground in April of 2010 on a $43 million plant science laboratory in East Lansing. The 80,000-sf building will house research space, lab support, offices, and an auditorium. The facility will connect the Plant Biology Laboratories and the Plant and Soil Science Building. Completion is expected by 2012.

Purdue University dedicated the $25 million Hall for Discovery and Learning Research in April of 2010 in West Lafayette, Ind. The four-story, 91,000-sf facility houses the Discovery Learning Research Center, the Alfred Mann Institute for Biomedical Development, the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence, the Center for Analytical Instrumentation Development, the Healthcare Technical Assistance Program, the Network for Computational Nanotechnology, the George E. Brown Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation, and ADVANCE-Purdue.

Yeshiva University’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine will construct new stem cell laboratories on its New York campus. Supported by $10 million in federal stimulus funding from the National Institutes of Health, the project will provide labs for the Ruth L. and David S. Gottesman Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Research. Existing laboratory space will also be renovated.

The University of Arkansas dedicated the 34,000-sf Rice Research and Extension Center (RREC) in Stuttgart in April of 2010. The $12.4 million facility houses research labs, offices, and an auditorium for the university’s Division of Agriculture. The RREC features advanced laboratories for plant genetics, molecular biology, and biofuels research. The project architect was Witsell, Evans and Rasco with May Construction Company as general contractor.