Michigan State University is expanding its footprint on campus and beyond, bringing new opportunities through leading-edge research, the arts, business, and STEM education. New and renovated facilities will power discoveries, enhance musical performances, transform student learning, and engage the community. 
 

For the first time in nearly 50 years, Michigan State University has received state funding to build a classroom building on campus. Through its capital outlay appropriation, the Michigan legislature voted to award MSU with $29.9 million in funding for construction costs for a new STEM Teaching and Learning Facility.  The new building will be located at the corner of Shaw Lane and Red Cedar Road in place of the Shaw Lane Power Plant. The total estimated project cost is $72.5 million.  

 

During the past 10 years, enrolled credit hours in science, technology, engineering, and math-related courses at MSU have increased by 38 percent. Construction of the new STEM facility will meet the growing needs of MSU’s students and provide them with the skills that are in high demand by employers across Michigan.
 

“The new state-of-the-art STEM Teaching and Learning Facility will be one more reason why students should choose to study at MSU,” said MSU Interim President John Engler. “This amazing new facility will not only leverage the research being conducted at MSU on STEM teaching and learning, but also will facilitate scientific interactions at the undergraduate student level and enhance the university’s ability to successfully compete for and retain talented students in STEM disciplines.”

Last September, the university broke ground on a $60 million Business Pavilion that will help enhance student learning and give the Eli Broad College of Business a competitive edge among the nation’s top business schools.  

“The pavilion will demonstrate our position as a top-of-mind leader in business higher education and enhance the student experience,” said Sanjay Gupta, dean of the Eli Broad College of Business. “Similar to our students, faculty, and staff, this space exemplifies excellence, pride, connectedness, and impact.” 
 

The ultra-modern, three-story Business Pavilion will feature flexible classrooms, the latest technology to accommodate the needs of entrepreneurial students, a glass-walled atrium featuring panoramic views of the Red Cedar River, and an expanded career center to serve students, recruiters, and corporate partners. The 100,000-square-foot facility, adjacent to the Business College complex and Eppley Center, is expected to be completed in 2019.

An expansion and facilities renovation for the College of Music will include a 35,000-square-foot addition and 8,500 square feet of renovated space. 

With 550 students working toward music degrees and more than 2,000 additional students participating in ensembles and classes, the college has outgrown current spaces for rehearsing, practicing, and learning, says College of Music Dean James Forger. 
 

“This will facilitate the work of faculty and students in extraordinary ways,” Forger says. Once the expansion and renovations are completed, climate control and improved acoustics will enhance all performances, while larger, flexible practice areas will accommodate ensembles, choirs, and seminars. In addition, purpose-built spaces for student-faculty studio collaboration and improvements in hearing protection for musicians will be created. 
 

The Broad Art Museum at MSU also increased its space and influence, thanks to a $1 million grant from the MSU Federal Credit Union. 

The new Art Lab is located across Grand River Avenue from the iconic museum. It houses a research center, classroom and study areas, and new exhibition spaces that aim to boost community involvement. 

The new 1855 Place is the latest addition to campus housing. It replaces several aging campus-housing facilities and creates a living environment that supports both single students and student families around the resources they need to achieve academic success.  

Located on Harrison Road across from the Breslin Center, 1855 Place consists of approximately 300 one- and two-bedroom contemporary apartments across 10 buildings. Residents have convenient access to academic facilities as well as a Sparty’s Market, Starbucks, Spartan Spirit Shop, and other amenities. The 102,000-square-foot project also is home to some campus offices and centralizes event-ticketing sales.

A new era of scientific exploration at MSU will advance with the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering.

Known as IQ, the institute, located in the Bio Engineering Facility, is a collaboration among the Colleges of Engineering, Human Medicine, and Natural Science. It aims to foster collaboration in the sciences on campus and beyond, creating extraordinary possibilities for transforming patient care with new biomedical discoveries. The interdisciplinary research center is devoted to basic and applied research at the interface of life sciences, engineering, information science, and other physical and mathematical sciences.

Another landmark space in the works is the Facility for Rare Isotope Beam (FRIB), a $730 million facility funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, MSU, and the state of Michigan. Supporting the mission of the Office of Nuclear Physics in the Department of Energy, FRIB will enable scientists to make discoveries about the properties of rare isotopes in order to better understand the physics of nuclei, nuclear astrophysics, and fundamental interactions and applications for society, including in medicine, homeland security, and industry.

The facility also will provide research opportunities for scientists and students from around the globe. When it’s operational in 2022, FRIB will be the world’s most powerful rare isotope accelerator, underscoring MSU as a world leader in rare isotope science.

A new era for MSU medical research was marked in September with the dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the $88.1 million Grand Rapids Research Center. 

The six-story, 162,800-square-foot facility will house research teams whose areas of scientific study include Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, cancer, women’s health and infertility, as well as autism and pediatric cancers.

“This research center is built around collaboration, not only to promote the sharing of ideas and information among the scientists within, but with the researchers and physicians at Spectrum Health, Van Andel Institute, Mercy Health Saint Mary’s, Grand Valley State University, Pine Rest and Mary Free Bed,” says College of Human Medicine Dean Norman J. Beauchamp Jr.

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To learn more about new and upcoming facility projects, go to go.msu.edu/projects.