Work is now underway on the largest capital construction project in the history of Marshall University (Huntington, West Virginia). Approximately $40 million is being spent on the 144,000 sq. ft. Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center, named for the senator who garnered over $35 million in federal funds to help build the project. Another $8.5 million is being invested for construction of the Biotechnology Development Center (BDC), which will connect with the Byrd Center.The Byrd center will offer collaborative research between undergraduate and graduate students with the faculty in the College of Science, the College of Information Technology and Engineering, and the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. In addition to the academic impact of the Byrd Center, Marshall hopes to stimulate economic development through the BDC. That facility will provide an environment where scientific concepts developed at Marshall can be guided to the marketplace and where outside biotech firms can find critical support for research and development.
