MSU Breaks Ground On $61M Bioengineering Building
EAST LANSING -- Michigan State University and state officials broke ground Wednesday afternoon on a new Bioengineering Facility, a 130,000-square-foot building which will serve as a hub for interdisciplinary research in MSU's colleges of Engineering, Human Medicine and Natural Science.
The building represents a $60.8 million investment, with $30 million from the state and the rest from the university.
"I've been told that business leaders in Michigan would like to see 1,000 more engineering and science graduates a year coming out of our Michgian schools. This building will let us start to meet that need," said Leo Kempel, Acting Dean of MSU's College of Engineering. "The purpose of this building is to bring together scientists from different fields, neuroscientists and engineers and cognitive science and people in radiology, to solve real and intractable problems in home health care, outpatient clinic health care and hospital health care, and to create new small business and help larger business expand their economic footprint."
Research in nanotechnology, robotics, tissue engineering and imaging will take place in the building, which will house about 30 new faculty members and 120 to 160 students, Kempel said.
The building, located off Service Drive between MSU's Life Sciences and Clinical Center buildings, is planned for completion in August 2015. Faculty from MSU's colleges of Engineering, Human Medicine and Natural Science will share it.
Examples of research that could take place in the building include sensors for detecting neurological activity of home-based patients, research into engineered tissues and research into novel materials for helping patients heal more quickly.
Laboratories in the building will have an open-floor design to enhance collaborative research. The modular construction of the labs will provide flexibility as the nature of research evolves over the years.
The building will be physically connected to the existing Clinical Center C-Wing and Life Sciences B-Wing with proximity to the Radiology Building.
The building's design will include energy-conservation methods that will create significant energy savings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
