UC RIVERSIDE: Chancellor plans $150 million lab center

The research lab is the first of three buildings that Wilcox has proposed constructing in the next several years.

BY MARK MUCKENFUSS

UC Riverside will spend nearly $7 million on plans for a $150 million research building, part of an expansion strategy designed to turn the campus into a national model for academic excellence.

On Tuesday, Sept. 15, members of the University of California Board of Regents’ committee on grounds and buildings, meeting at UC Irvine, voted unanimously to green light spending the $7 million. The full Board of Regents is expected to OK the request Thursday, Sept. 17.

The preliminary planning is the first step in building the proposed Multidisciplinary Research Building 1 on the north side of campus. The building would include both wet and dry laboratories, enclosed environmental space for plants and animals, as well as room for offices.

The labs would be built so they’re useful to researchers from multiple disciplines. The goal is to foster crossover and collaborative research.

UCR Chancellor Kim Wilcox told the board that the building would provide research facilities for about 50 of the 300 additional faculty members he has pledged to hire by 2020. Those faculty would have their own research groups. As many as 400 people would use the new building. Wilcox said the addition will also boost the campus’ profile.

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[Source]: The Press Enterprise