For most of its 150-year history, Missouri University of Science and Technology has been focused on and known for engineering and physical sciences.
The campus in Rolla is looking to bring that same level of international profile to its biology and life science programs.
Missouri S&T has approval to start construction on a $130 million, 128,000-square-foot facility that will be known as the Bioplex. It will house laboratories and office space for 24 research teams, classrooms and student labs.
“The Bioplex will create an unmistakable impression of these critical programs for prospective students, researchers, industry partners and campus visitors. It will be a nexus for collaboration among researchers from multiple fields,” said Missouri S&T Chancellor Mo Dehghani.
The curators also approved two new Ph.D. programs, in bioengineering and biological sciences.
The university projects that the moves will bring in 1,000 new undergraduate and 100 graduate students majoring in biology-related fields over the next 10 years. The school sees it as a growth industry.
“One thing that we'll always need are solutions to challenges in human health and environmental health,” said Stephen Roberts, S&T's vice chancellor of strategic initiatives. “That will always be the case that will never go out of style. That will only become more and more vital.”
Missouri S&T has a mixed history with biology. In the 1920s, the campus saw groundbreaking research in areas including microbiology and immunology. But in the 1940s, looking to specialize, the campus eliminated its life science programs and didn’t restart them until 1983.
“I would argue that it's sort of due time for the university if it's going to claim to be a leading university of science and technology to have a significant footprint in this domain of science,” Roberts said.
The Bioplex will be built using private donations. S&T hopes to pay for the ongoing costs by attracting federal research grants, partnerships with the private sector and tuition from increasing enrollment in biology.
Construction will begin in early 2025 and last approximately three years.
