Provost Kim Wilcox and other top administrators supported the $40 million facility, saying it will allow MSU to make up ground against other top research labs and contribute to the growing fields of bioengineering and health sciences.

The MSU Board of Trustees unanimously approved an authorization to plan for a multimillion dollar on-campus Bio Engineering Facility at its Friday meeting.

Michigan officials are expected to approve and contribute $30 million to the project, and MSU officials are expected to present more detailed plans regarding the project to the state in November.

The facility — slated for placement near the Life Science Building and the Clinical Center — will bring together researchers from the College of Human Medicine and the College of Engineering. Researchers at the facility will focus on engineering health sciences and other fields, including radiology and physiology. Faculty from the College of Natural Science also will use the building.

“We struggle with maintaining and keeping up with modern labs in general,” Wilcox said at the meeting. “This great opportunity exists in our emerging .. sciences.”

The board also approved a resolution to the Board of Trustees’ student liaison policy, a change that will affect ASMSU’s representation to the board.

ASMSU — MSU’s undergraduate student government — will,for the time being, keep two of the four student liaison positions this academic year, one of which will go to the chair of ASMSU’s General Assembly.

“(The resolution) will change the composition,” Wilcox told the board. “Given that ASMSU is in transition, it would include the leader of the (General Assembly) this year.”

In the future, ASMSU will have only one guaranteed liaison spot to the board. The other spot will go to the president of MSU’s Council of Graduate Students, and two are expected to be filled with at-large members selected by interim vice president for student affairs and services Denise Maybank.

“We want to acknowledge the great work of ASMSU and its leadership,” MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said. “Everything is really in a great position.”

MSU Trustee Melanie Foster also thanked ASMSU General Assembly chairperson Steve Marino for his efforts on behalf of ASMSU.

The trustees also voted unanimously to approve the construction of the River Trail Neighborhood Engagement Center, a $2 million project that ties in with MSU’s Neighborhoods initiative.

With more than 15,000 students in the residence halls, the initiative is a focus of the university, MSU Trustee Brian Breslin said.

“As we’ve talked about before, we are dividing the residence halls into neighborhoods across campus,” Breslin told the board. “Each of those are designed to have an engagement center.”

The most recent engagement centers opened in Holden Hall and Brody Neighborhood this fall. The centers provide math and writing tutoring and offer a free health clinic directly in the residence halls.

According to preliminary numbers presented at the meeting, MSU also will play host to about 7,815 students in this year’s incoming class, assistant vice president for Residential and Hospitality Services Vennie Gore said.

Final admissions numbers will be released later this fall.