Equipped with gold painted helmets and shovels, UI President Chuck Staben, Vice President for Research and Economic Development Jack McIver and a coterie of community members and other university officials broke ground last Friday to usher in the construction of the highly anticipated Integrated Research and Innovation Center.
The ground breaking ceremony began with McIver speaking on what the estimated $49 million IRIC project will offer UI, including much needed physical space, advanced technological capabilities and a center for faculty, staff and students to gather for intellectual discourse.
“The name was carefully chosen,” McIver said. “It is integrated — not multidisciplinary or trans disciplinary — because the building is designed to bring together researchers, students and staff to blur distinctions between disciplines as we look at how to address the problems facing the region, nation and state.”
McIver said the IRIC building’s design was four years in the making, with the final design being less grandiose than its predecessors. He said one of the justifications to build the IRIC was the unreasonable price tag that came with updating old buildings to meet newer standards. He said the old buildings were impractical for hosting the cutting-edge research the university wanted to support and invest in.
“We will be able to move to the forefront in certain areas, and in other areas, move past the forefront onto the leading edge in two years,” McIver said.
Staben also took the stand to state that the building would attract world-class faculty who will teach at the leading edge of their disciplines, as well as a forward-thinking generation of students who will confront the problems of the future with confidence.
“You can sense a great deal of positive change on campus, here at the IRIC building and with the renovation of the Education Building. The university is moving forward,” Staben said.
Professor of Biology and member of the IRIC Building Advisory Committee Holly Wichman used a metaphor to describe the positive interactions taking place to launch the IRIC — identifying similarities between the IRIC planning process and the act of baking sourdough bread.
“This is like dropping a little sourdough starter into some water and flour,” Wichman said. “First, you get activity below the surface and then you get something with emergent properties that is way beyond the ingredients you started out with.”
Wichman scratched the surface in describing the intricate details of planning the building. She mentioned the water placement, locations of outlets and what voltage they would require, anticipated foot traffic in and out of the building and how the IRIC would interface with the buildings surrounding it.
She called the future IRIC building an ‘idea incubator,’ where bright, creative people would bump shoulders, have lunch and coffee together and talk about their latest brainstorming session.
“For the next two years, faculty will be writing research proposals, student equipment grants and negotiate contracts to fill up this space for high impact projects,” Wichman said. “I believe in celebrating success — get ready to celebrate success.”
George Wood Jr. can be reached at [email protected]