Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., has broken ground for a $56 million Integrated Science and Engineering facility.
The university says the facility will add more than 82,000 square feet of labs, classrooms, faculty offices and a special “collaboration studio" as part of an expansion in STEM-related educational and interdisciplinary collaboration.
The facility "will not only be a home for students and faculty who can imagine and create, it will be a place that will allow others, who for so long have imagined new possibilities for this institution, to join with us in celebrating accomplishments and the future to come.” says Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh.
Scheduled to open in fall 2021, the facility will be part of more than 270,000 square feet dedicated to classroom and laboratory education for STEM disciplines.
Skybridges will connect the new facility with the PACCAR Center for Applied Science and the chemistry and biology departments in Hughes Hall. The PACCAR Center, which opened in 2009, is connected via a sky bridge to the Herak Center for Engineering.
Applications for STEM-related majors at Gonzaga have doubled in the past nine years. According to industry estimates, 79,000 jobs will be available in Washington state by 2030 for credentialed STEM professionals.
The facility will serve all majors through core curriculum classes — providing opportunities for all undergraduates to engage in integrated environments to solve problems, create commerce, and explore disciplines of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Video from Gonzaga University:
