The Automotive Research Experiment Station will upgrade its facilities from a 9,000-square-foot laboratory located about five miles from campus to a state-of-the-art site on south campus.
The new 30,000-square-foot location will be off Bogue Street and Service Road, south of the existing research Complex.
The project's contractor was appointed by the MSU Board of Trustees on Friday. Construction on the about $8 million project is expected to begin at the end of this month and continue through the year.
"It is going to be much bigger and have more sophisticated facilities in it," said Eann Patterson, mechanical engineering chairman and professor. "It will be unique. It's on a par that most colleges aren't."
The research center, currently located at 3361 Hulett Road in Okemos, looks into crucial current issues, especially amid an approaching energy crisis, Patterson said.
The lab researches engine efficiency and different combustion processes. Researchers examine ways to get more energy out of a smaller amount of fuel.
"We are doing small parts of the big puzzle - different types of fuel injectors, different parts of the combustion process," lab manager Tom Stuecken said. "With only so much oil, we are trying to make more efficient engines that are easier on the environment."
This facility's move has been in the works since 2001, when MSU updated its 2020 Vision master plan - a plan that looks at the future of campus development by the year 2020, said Bill Latta, director of Facilities Planning and Space Management.
"The provost and Board of Trustees have endorsed this," Latta said. "It is intended to advance automotive research on campus."
Funding for the move came from Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., a savings fund from the Engineering college, donations from the college's alumni, Consumers Energy and the university. General Motors Corp. is providing some new high-tech equipment for the new location.
Latta said the building will enhance the unit's capabilities, giving MSU and the College of Engineering an advantage in enhancing research efforts.
Stuecken said he's excited about the new opportunities that will be available.
"We are going to have some good test cells that we don't have now," he said. "We will be closer to campus, and can interact with other groups and share some equipment easier. We will have a larger facility. Right now we are pretty crammed."
Putting the building behind the Engineering Research Complex will create "a bigger academic community," Patterson said.
