University of Wyoming students and researchers soon will have access to one of the most technologically advanced facilities in the nation with the completion of the $100 million Science Initiative Building.

The 153,000-square-foot, five-level structure joins several other UW facilities opened in recent years in the northwest section of campus focused on both undergraduate education and cutting-edge research in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The project aims to help propel UW into R1 status in the Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education, the top tier of American research universities, while also elevating the UW student experience.

“The Science Initiative Building is a new place where students can work directly in cutting-edge faculty laboratories and experience hands-on, active learning with hundreds of their peers,” UW President Ed Seidel says. “The facility also is the face of a new northwest corridor at UW that enables our students to experience hands-on learning in the introductory teaching laboratories of the Michael B. Enzi STEM Facility; the Engineering Education and Research Building for designing new tools for research; the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center for work in core UW laboratories that measure genomes and the various molecules and their isotopes that cycle through our biosphere; and the Energy Innovation Center that is focused on finding solutions to the world’s energy challenges.”

At a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday morning, speakers including Seidel, former Governor Dave Freudenthal and Science Initiative leaders paid tribute to the “group” of people involved in the Science Initiative Building project. The ceremony was open to the public.

Installation and movement of equipment, faculty offices and furnishings will take place over the summer, with full use of the building expected for the fall 2022 semester.

The Science Initiative Building will be home to modern laboratory research space for faculty and students; a state-of-the-art greenhouse and plant growth areas; the Model Organism Research Facility; the Center for Advanced Scientific Instrumentation; and an active-learning classroom and collaborative spaces for undergraduate and graduate education and research.

“The Science Initiative Building is a welcome and much-needed expansion of life-science research space on campus. The open-concept design of the labs will allow researchers like myself to realize new efficiencies and establish new collaborative relationships,” says Professor Jay Gatlin, head of UW’s Department of Molecular Biology. “I get particularly excited when I think about how my lab’s research will benefit from the Center for Advanced Scientific Instrumentation. This center will provide access to amazing cutting-edge instrumentation previously unavailable to researchers at UW and will likely have a profound impact on research across campus and throughout the state of Wyoming.”