Spring 2007

$20 MILLION SUPPORTS SECOND SCIENCE BUILDING

There he goes again.

A new gift from San Francisco philanthropist Lorry Lokey more than doubles his initial investment in the UO’s new Integrative Science Complex.

Lokey’s latest contribution of up to $15 million brings his total commitment for the two-phase project to $25 million ($5 million for Phase One and $20 million for Phase Two). It also propels the university toward its goal of raising $60 million for Phase Two, a new building neighboring Phase One, Lorry I. Lokey Laboratories, an underground nanoscience facility.

“A matching [private] contribution of this magnitude is absolutely critical in attracting the state legislature’s support for bonding authorization,” said Richard Linton, UO vice president for research and graduate studies. Phase Two of the project will require up to $30 million in state G bonds—the largest such single request in the university’s history.

“The remaining $10 million required to round out financing of this building must come from additional nonstate and private sources,” Linton said.

The university is in the vanguard of institutions advancing integrative science: discipline-spanning teams of leading professors and researchers exploring critical scientific frontiers.

“This project is extremely important to the state as well as the university,” Linton said. “By bringing our renowned cognitive neuroscientists into a research environment shared with their colleagues in other fields, we will sustain Oregon as a leader in advancing the understanding of the mind and brain and in translating that knowledge into improved human health and performance.”

Linton said a faculty committee would soon begin work on defining program priorities for Phase Two, a multi-story structure of up to 100,000 square feet. Plans call for state-of-the-art research labs, classrooms, and meeting space along with shared facilities for sophisticated instrumentation.

Meanwhile, other gifts and corporate leases are helping the College of Arts and Sciences complete the outfitting of Lokey Laboratories, which will open by the end of this year. Commitments to date include $400,000 from the Alice C. Tyler Perpetual Trust, $50,000 from Jeffery D. Loomis ’83 of San Francisco, and a three-year lease agreement valued at about $200,000 by Voxtel, Inc., of Beaverton, Oregon, for space in the Partnership Labs.

Lorry I. Lokey Laboratories is a signature research center associated with the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI).

—Melody Ward Leslie