The Roy J. Carver CoLaboratory, the new home for the Plant Sciences Institute, will begin to be built in October, said Stephen Howell, director of the Plant Sciences Institute.

Mark Huss, project manager, said construction should be completed February 2003.

Howell said the new CoLaboratory will be built on the edge of a parking lot north of the Molecular Biology building, which is adjacent to the old Iowa State golf course land.

Construction for the Carver CoLaboratory was to begin this summer, but was delayed when a new budget was approved in May. The budget, which was originally set at $9.5 million, is now set at $12.75 million. The additional money will enable a basement to be added to the plans, which will offer more laboratory and support space.

Huss said the three-story building will be approximately 45,000 square feet.

“The building is a fairly small building compared to many new buildings on campus,” Howell said. “[It will contain] four lab modules on each floor. The plans were recently expanded to accommodate new hires in the Plant Sciences Institute.”

Howell said the building will not only be the administrative home for the Plant Sciences Institute, but it will also be the offices and laboratories of two senior investigators, Patrick Schnable, professor of agronomy, and Edward Yeung, distinguished professor of chemistry.

“Both [doctors] are renowned scientists known for their development of exciting technologies that will be attractive for public/private sector interactions,” Howell said. “The building will house Dr. Schnables’s plant genomics laboratory, Dr. Yeung’s laser laboratory and a high-tech plant growth chamber facility. Other facilities will be housed in the building as the Plant Sciences Institute continues to grow.”

Howell said both undergraduate and graduate students will have an opportunity to work and learn in the new lab.

“The public/private sector interfaces in the building can be used effectively to acquaint students with opportunities in the private sector in this research area,” Howell said.

“The purpose of the colaboratory is [to] bring together Iowa State and private sector scientists to promote public/private sector collaborations and to spawn new commercial enterprises that enrich Iowa agriculture and industry,” he said.

Howell said the colaboratory concept is a new one in this research area, and it will be challenging to make the concept work.

“However, there are so many exciting developments in the plant sciences that this concept will surely succeed and create new opportunities for Iowa agriculture and industry,” he said.