UC San Diego’s $1.6 billion expansion just got bigger

By Gary Robbins

UC San Diego’s $1.6 billion expansion will be even larger than the school announced earlier this year with the addition of a $25.7 million marine conservation building at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Campus officials say construction of the Marine Conservation Facility (MCF) could begin as early as spring 2018 if the proposal is approved by the California Coastal Commission.

The university wants to construct the MCF on a seaside bluff that was formerly the home of buildings operated by NOAA and the Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

The MCF would enable Scripps to broaden its work in marine biodiversity and conservation, a discipline that takes in everything from protecting such ecosystems as coral reefs and mangrove forests to preventing and cleaning up pollution to managing fish stocks and finding better ways for communities to deal with natural disasters, including hurricanes.

“Researchers and students at the new facility will focus on developing technology driven solutions to improve marine biodiversity in the most varied and threatened ecosystems,” Scripps said in a statement.

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[Source]: San Diego Union-Tribune