University officials and alumni gathered on Henry Mall Thursday to attend a program entitled The BioStar Journey: Celebrating Discovery that introduced three new building additions on campus and allowed attendees to tour the buildings.
According to Dean of College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Elton Aberle, \The mission of the BioStar Initiative is to advance the sciences at UW-Madison by providing world class researchers with state-of-the-art laboratories and buildings.""
Additions were made to the Genetics and Biotechnology Center, Microbial Sciences Building and the Biochemistry research and teaching facility. The building additions enhance the resources available for research within the CALS, the Medical School and the Biotechnology Center.
""Wisconsin has been a leader in many areas ... and in the Life Sciences generally,"" Riley said. To keep this status, ""[UW] must get the very best faculty and staff and students. This requires having first-rate facilities in which we can conduct frontline research.""
Dean of the Graduate School Martin Cadwallader agreed the building additions improve the research capabilities on campus.
""[The buildings are] able to bring together units in a way that fosters interactive and collaborative research,"" Cadwallader said.
Dean of the Medical School Dr. Philip Farrell said the gathering Thursday was a celebration of progress as ""[UW-Madison's] research engine accelerates into the 21st century.""
""[The building additions] will shape us into a stronger, more interdisciplinary group of scholars,"" Farrell said.
According to Lisa Farmer, a third-year Ph.D student at UW-Madison, the gathering Thursday was excellent exposure for the sciences.
""It gives [alumni] an idea of what kind of research we do on campus and what we work on and what kind of facilities we need,"" Farmer said.
John Stanga, a third-year genetics student at UW-Madison said the building additions are an extremely positive advancement for the university.
""I think it will attract a lot of attention to people who are interested in joining the university. Having new facilities is certainly a good thing,"" Stanga said. The building additions were only Phase One of the BioStar Initiative. In November 2004 Governor Jim Doyle announced plans for the building of a $375 million Wisconsin Institute of Discovery, a public-private research institute.
Cadwallader urged all attendees to continue to support the initiative.
""A bright future lies ahead,"" Cadwallader said. ""I know that with your support, we have more to discover.\
