MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — Gov. Bill Haslam presided Wednesday over the opening of a new $147 million science building at Middle Tennessee State University.
The 257,000-square-foot facility includes 37 class laboratories, 13 research labs and about 1,500 student stations.
During remarks at the dedication ceremony, Haslam said that, "Graduates with STEM degrees are important to our state’s ability to thrive, and the additional space to train these students — provided by this building — will help us compete in today’s global economy.”
MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee echo the governor's comments, saying the new science building “is critical to our continuing efforts to provide Tennessee with workers equipped for the challenges of the 21st century workforce.”
On Oct. 20, Nobel Prize-winning chemist Harry Kroto will deliver the first public lecture in the building.
Kroto shared the 1996 Nobel Prize with Robert F. Curl Jr. and Richard E. Smalley for their discovery of fullerenes, a series of carbon molecules.