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UW Breaks Ground On $53.5 Million High-Bay Research Facility

Caroline Ballard

Wyoming Governor Matt Mead, politicians, and energy industry reps gathered at the University of Wyoming Monday to break ground on a state-of-the-art building .

The $53.5 million dollar High-Bay Research Facility was funded mostly by the state government, but over $16 million of that came from energy companies. UW President Dick McGinity says their financial support points to a key partnership between industry, government, and higher education.
"The research that goes on will enable the companies to extract more from their reserves, and that in turn will help the companies prosper, they’ll require more graduates, and they’ll come here to recruit those people. So it’s definitely a win-win," he says.

What makes the building unique is its high ceilings that will accommodate large-scale energy research projects in areas like mineral extraction, geo-mechanics, and structural engineering.

One longtime champion of the project is former Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal. He says this facility will give UW the chance to show the world that it’s the place to be for energy research.

"And once you build that reputation it will feed on itself, the state will benefit, the students will benefit, the faculty will benefit," says Freudenthal.

The center is slated to be completed next year.

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