UMass Amherst Breaks Ground for $92.7 Million Integrated Sciences Building

Sept. 8, 2006

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Ed Blaguszewski 413/545-0444

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst broke ground today for a $92.7 million Integrated Sciences Building that will forge a new model for science teaching and research on campus, focusing on the integration of the life, chemical and physical sciences. The facility is also expected to play a vital role in advancing the work of the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute (PVLSI), a partnership between UMass Amherst and Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.

UMass Amherst Chancellor John V. Lombardi hosted the event. Other guests included UMass President Jack M. Wilson, U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, U.S. Reps. John W. Olver and Richard E. Neal, state Rep. Ellen Story, UMass Trustee John Armstrong, alumnus Robert M. Mahoney whose family made a gift to support the project, and George M. Langford, dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

“This facility will become the cornerstone of science education and research in the biological and biomedical sciences at UMass Amherst,” said Langford. “It will bring together the teaching of basic and advanced courses in chemistry and life sciences, provide flexible laboratories that support interdisciplinary research teams, and strengthen the interaction between faculty and students.” The target date for completion of the building is winter 2009.

Kennedy said, “The Integrated Sciences Building will help UMass Amherst reach the next level in its extraordinary effort to lead in the most cutting-edge fields of research in this new century of the life sciences. This project is a major investment in the region, and it will help attract private investment and high-paying jobs to western Massachusetts.”

The new building is vital for PVLSI, Lombardi said, because its collaborative research in the life sciences depends heavily on the ability of UMass Amherst to recruit and retain excellent faculty and graduate students. Research in these areas is extremely laboratory dependent, and current laboratory space must be enlarged and improved. The new building, he said, will dedicate approximately 25 percent of its space to research laboratories. The remaining 75 percent will be dedicated to classrooms and teaching laboratories focused principally on the education of undergraduates. “These students,” Lombardi said, “will form a pool of talent that both PVLSI and the state’s biotechnology industry can tap into, either for further education or employment.”

The four-story, 155,000 square-foot facility will be located along North Pleasant Street and Stockbridge Road, near the existing Morrill Science Center. The building will include all undergraduate chemistry teaching laboratories, upper-division life science laboratories, research space for up to 10 leading scientists, laboratory support facilities and an integrated chemistry/life sciences computer center. In addition, the building will feature a teaching development laboratory, a 300-seat auditorium equipped with state-of-the-art scientific demonstration facilities and technology, an 85-seat classroom, upper-division discussion/computer rooms and future distance-learning capabilities.

The building will also enhance the interaction between researchers and students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. It will house faculty and staff office space for those directly responsible for the laboratories and resource center.

In addition to providing the campus with new space for teaching and research, the building will free up approximately 40,000 net square feet of existing teaching and research space that will be renovated and upgraded for other scientific disciplines. The facility is also designed to enhance the character of the campus through planned landscape improvements along North Pleasant Street and Stockbridge Road. The building site allows for future expansion.

Funding for the $92.7 million facility includes $81.45 million in monies borrowed through the UMass Building Authority, $7.5 million in state funds, a $2 million private gift and $1.75 million in federal funds. The private gift is from Kathleen and Robert Mahoney, both of whom graduated in 1970, and Barbara and Richard Mahoney, who graduated in 1955. Robert Mahoney, who spoke at the groundbreaking, is vice chairman of Citizens Financial Group.

The designer/architect of the project is Payette Associates of Boston, and the contractor is Gilbane Inc. of Providence, R.I.

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