Ground breaking set for Research Center

Posted by University News Service

Sept. 2, 2011

Texas State University-San Marcos will break ground for its new Center for Research Commercialization at a ceremony at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7.

The event will take place at the construction site at 3055 Hunter Road in San Marcos. The public is invited.

The project, designed by Philo Wilke Architects of Houston, has an estimated cost of approximately $7 million, with funding coming from Higher Education Assistance Funds, an Economic Development Administration grant and the City of San Marcos. American Constructors of Austin has been selected to manage the project.

Texas State has established the Center or Research Commercialization to provide an effective interface between industry, government and academia. The center will be used to launch high-tech start-ups related to the university’s Advanced Materials Laboratory and other significant research programs at Texas State.

The new facility, located on a 38-acre site at Hunter Road and McCarty Lane in San Marcos owned by the university, will provide university and commercial tenants access to secure wet labs, clean rooms and office space. Green and bio-technology companies will be a major focus, and backers hope that San Marcos' convenient location between Austin and San Antonio will work to attract corporate research interest from those cities' technology communities.

Interdisciplinary partnership will be a major selling point of the facilities, incorporating expertise from the McCoy College of Business Administration and the Materials Science, Engineering and Commercialization program at Texas State.