Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno joined representatives from NJIT for the event and praised the possibilities the new facility represented for the institute’s students and businesses in the state.



“Today, we break ground on a site that will host new collaborations and help NJIT continue its incredible research into innovations that sound right out of fiction but which are being developed right here,” she said. “Imagine what you will be able to do with the resources this new facility will bring. This project ensures that NJIT’s students will be armed with the best possible education to help them change the world.”



The new facility is part of a $300 million campuswide capital building program, and is scheduled for completion in 2016. The 24,500-square-foot facility will house laboratories, offices and spaces designed to promote collaboration among faculty, students, staff and external partners, according to NJIT President Joel Bloom.



“NJIT has long been known for research breakthroughs and advancing emerging fields,” he said. “The new Life Sciences and Engineering Building will afford our faculty, students and statewide partners increased ability to collaborate and advance progress already made in critical areas such as brain and spinal cord injuries, biosensors and other medical devices and nanotechnology.”



The facility will also offer a new home to existing statewide collaborations with NJIT, including those with: Rutgers University, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Robert Wood Johnson, Kessler Foundation, Purdue Pharma, Merck and Johnson & Johnson.



The GO Bond Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie in 2012 after being approved by the state’s voters at the ballot, is the first such bond program dedicated to capital improvement projects for higher education since 1988.

