New Engineering and Plant Sciences Buildings Approved for Planning
On June 24, the Board of Trustees approved planning for both the Plant and Environmental Science Building and Engineering and Digital Innovation Building. Both buildings help further the MSU 2030 Strategic plan by creating opportunities and investment that will further research.
Engineering and Digital Innovation Building
Engineering Dean Leo Kempel
Engineering Dean Leo Kempel said the board unanimously approved planning to begin on an Engineering and Digital Innovation Building during their meeting on June 24, 2022.
“This facility will allow us to expand our faculty and staff, better meet the needs of an expanding student base, and pursue new research ventures in collaboration with colleagues across campus, including areas such as quantum engineering, advanced manufacturing, and semiconductors,” Kempel said. “Although Engineering is the lead college, six colleges came together to envision what the digital future will offer to our students.”
Kempel noted the six colleges are the Eli Broad College of Business, and the Colleges of Arts and Letters, Communication Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Natural Science, and Social Science.
To read more on the Engineering and Digital Innovation Building, read the official story from the College of Engineering website.
The memorandum from the Board of Trustees meeting for the building can be found on the Board of Trustees website.
Plant and Environmental Science Building
The proposed site for the Plant and Environmental Science Building
The Plant and Environmental Science Building was also approved along with the new Engineering and Digital Innovation Building on June 24. A description of the project so far is that the new building will provide new capacity, align modern building infrastructure and space functionality and support the consolidation of top ranked researchers and students, thereby enabling new synergies and enhancing potential for discovery. It will provide the same quality of research facilities as competitive institutions and allow the university to attract and retain leading scientists, expand research to support Michigan, US and global agriculture, and increase federal funding in high-demand research areas.
The programmatic vision focuses on research at the interface of plants and the environment with a focus on agriculture and ecological resilience; fundamental mechanisms of plant growth, photosynthesis, and evolution and resistance to stress/change. Planning for the building will consider the programmatic needs of research in photosynthesis and plant resilience, regenerative agriculture, and environmental science and ecology.
The building will primarily include wet-bench laboratory research space, support facilities including growth chambers, and collaborative spaces.
The anticipated location is in the central academic district adjacent to the Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building. Proximity to the existing Plant Sciences neighborhood is critical to the collaborative nature of the research, sharing of resources, and operational efficiencies. Site evaluation will account for infrastructure requirements. This project and its planning will set the stage for demolition of the Center for Integrated Plant Systems Building, and future adaptative re-use of the Plant Biology Building for further thematic colocation of programs, thereby reducing capital renewal costs.
The memorandum from the Board of Trustees meeting for the Plant and Environmental Science Building can be found on the Board of Trustees website.