Lab propels GSU to 'another era of growth'; $142 million project: Teaching and research facility to be part of complex, funded by public, private mone

BYLINE: ANDREA JONES; Staff

Georgia State University broke ground Tuesday on a $142 million science teaching laboratory and research laboratory, marking what GSU President Carl Patton called "another era of growth" for the downtown Atlanta college.

The two buildings are the first phase of construction for a planned 3.2-acre science park located at Decatur Street and Piedmont Avenue near Grady Memorial Hospital.

If the complex reaches its full potential, the labs could generate an economic impact up to $800 million within the first five years --- in everything from research dollars to faculty salaries --- Patton said.

The buildings were funded with $40 million from the state and more than $100 million in private donations.

Patton said the buildings, which will give new homes to nearly all of Georgia State's science departments, will help the university educate more health care students and attract grant dollars. More than 6,000 Georgia State students are now majoring in science fields and research funding has tripled during the past decade to $60 million a year.

Georgia State has been turning away qualified nursing students because it doesn't have large enough facilities to house them, and researchers are strapped by space in research grant applications, he said.

"We are full to the brim," Patton said after the Tuesday morning ceremony. "We can't take on more grants or more students."

Susan Kelly, dean of Georgia State's College of Health and Human Services, said the school's nursing program receives five applications for each slot. While the program has become highly competitive, with students' GPA's now in the 3.6 to 3.7 range, she said, "we're also disappointed because we have to turn away many qualified students." The School of Nursing currently has 234 undergraduate students in its program.

Gov. Sonny Perdue, who attended the groundbreaking, said the buildings "have real human impact."

"This science park will be home to a spectrum of disciplines, all vital to Georgia's long-term growth," he said.

In addition to building the teaching and research labs, the university also plans to form partnerships with donors in the private sector to add a business incubator and center for advanced collaboration to the science park. Patton said the school is still trying to raise capital for the two additional buildings and a timetable for construction has not yet been set. Georgia State already has partnerships with several for-profit companies with its current incubator and wants to expand, said Robin Morris, the university's vice president of research.

The new labs and research space show just how far Georgia State has advanced, said Don Edwards, the university's Regents professor of biology and physics. Edwards said when he arrived on campus 25 years ago, he was the only neurobiologist. Now the university has more than 70 faculty members in his field.

"The growth has been dramatic," he said. "[The new science park] is going to give us the kind of research profile that will make everything easier --- from attracting faculty and students to grant funding."

In recent years, the urban campus has embarked on a massive building campaign, constructing a student center and recreation center and a $45 million, four-story classroom building. GSU also moved its schools of business, music and public policy into the Fairlie- Poplar District.

The teaching lab, named for health care CEO Parker "Pete" Petit, and the research lab will house the departments of biology, chemistry, computer science, geosciences, nursing, nutrition, physical and respiratory therapies, physics and astronomy, and psychology.