The Plant Biotechnology Building on the agricultural campus was dedicated in October 2003. The building was the final phase of a $38.5 million, three-building complex, funding for which was assembled over six years from state and federal funds. The $22 million building contains eighty-one thousand square feet of assignable space.
The building was modeled after the plant research facilities of DuPont Inc. and is designed to encourage and support collaboration among teams of scientists, faculty, and students through multiuse laboratories and common conference rooms. When built, facilities within the structure included a computerized, state-of-the-art genomics laboratory for DNA sequencing, genotyping and microarray analysis; plant growth chambers; plant tissue culture rooms; a biosafety laboratory; and rooms dedicated to radioisotope use and epifluorescence microscopy. Faculty laboratories and state-of-the-art classrooms and teaching laboratories were also contained in the building. The building has a complex mechanical system that provides 12 complete air changes per hour and supports other functions that serve the building’s biotechnology focus.