Matt Nemeth entered the Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building looking for a quiet place to study. He ended up in the middle of a dedication ceremony.
The physics sophomore, trapped in the building by Friday’s torrential rainfall, mingled through the crowd of donors, community leaders and faculty and staff members, staring at the top of the four-story atrium.
“It’s very high-tech looking - everything down to the garbage cans,” Nemeth said.
The $93 million facility was officially opened Friday. More than 500 people attended the dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“You can just feel the excitement,” MSU Provost Lou Anna Simon said. “It’s a symbol that our future is full of very positive, yet-to-be-imagined discoveries.”
Simon said the facility will bring an energy to campus and change the way students learn.
“This will be a place where a wide-eyed 18-year-old will come for the first time and discover science,” she said.
But the more than 200,000 square-foot building also will be a place of discovery for experienced researchers, Trustee Randall Pittman said.
Pittman, chief executive officer of Ypsilanti-based Forest Health Services, said the building will help MSU make great strides in medicine and physical sciences.
“This is the kind of thing that I just dream about,” Pittman said. “You need this kind of center to be a magnet.”
He said the modern facility will improve the way scientists work, which could help them make more discoveries.
MSU researchers are credited with making numerous scientific breakthroughs, including the invention of cancer drug Cisplatin.
“If we don’t do that, it’ll be disappointing,” Pittman said. “They now have the laboratory space to set it up and do it the right way.”
MSU has been working for several years to upgrade the atmosphere in which its scientists conduct their research.
The university began changing its research atmosphere with the construction of the building on Feb. 10, 1999. The facility features separated lab and office towers so laboratories can be constantly moved and upgraded without having to uproot faculty offices.
The building also features three lecture halls and remote controls for the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope, located atop the Andes Mountains in Chile.
The university is now setting its sights on bringing a $900 million U.S. Department of Energy Rare Isotope Accelerator to campus.
And on Friday, the Board of Trustees approved the upgrades of facilities in the existing Chemistry, Biochemistry and Food Science buildings.
But board Chairperson Don Nugent said although it’s important to have updated and cutting-edge facilities, the researchers and their work is the top priority.
“We know we’ve built a building. We don’t know what the results are going to be from that building,” Nugent said. “We’re going to turn out some tremendous scientists and I’m sure we’ll turn out some great discoveries.”
The building won’t only benefit campus, some say.
Having a population that understands science is important to the future of Michigan and the country, said state Rep. Paul DeWeese, who attended the dedication.
“We have to decide as a people issues of the environment, issues of energy policy,” the Williamston Republican said. “Our public is going to have to decide these issues.”
Friday’s ceremony was the first look at the massive facility for many people, including molecular biology technician Kathy Nummy.
“It’s a beautiful building,” she said. “I think we’re going to have a good time up here.”
Nummy has been at MSU for 14 years and said the connection to the Chemistry and Biochemistry buildings and the facility’s central location, on the corner of Wilson Road and Farm Lane, will make her job more efficient.
She moves into her laboratory at the end of May.
The ceremony also marked an important moment for Wolfgang Bauer, chairman of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Bauer has been in charge of the department for a little more than a year, and while it’s been a very hectic year, he said it’s been worth it.
“That’s what you live for,” he said. “You want to be a part of something that makes a difference in life.”
Ed Ronco can be reached at roncoedw@msu.edu.
