Plans to design a building in an inter-department-shared research complex were set in motion by the Board of Regents in a meeting last week. The goal of the complex is to encourage cooperation between different science colleges.

“The idea is that it (the location) will spawn joint research and make it easier to collaborate,” said Jim Moyer, the associate dean of research at the College of Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.

Moyer said currently there are several buildings in a complex near Ferdinand Street and the plant sciences building will be the newest in the group of interconnected faculties from the Paul G. School for Global Animal Health, the College of Arts of Sciences and now the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences.

“They are mostly basic scientists and so at the basic science level there is a lot of commonality in the instruments that you need to work on plants and animals,” Moyer said. “Being in close proximity makes it easier to work together and share equipment and ideas.”

Moyer said this complex has been nearly a decade in the making. The process to get buildings in the works takes three biennial legislative sessions. The legislature recently approved funding and the Board of Regents approval allows them to actually begin designing. Moyer anticipates the building will be completed within three years.

“There are compounds in plants that are pretty important to human health,” Moyer said. “We want to study how they’re produced so we can breed plants that can promote human and animal health, and that’s why this building’s important.”

Reporting by Rebecca White