Welding torches often sparkled into the night as construction teams worked hard to get the Biotechnology Building at the top of Campus Drive enclosed. Warm, dry, fall weather helped their efforts, so construction is on time and is now out of the worst of the winter weather. When it is finished this August, the building will add to the architectural charm of the campus. But it has to enhance more than the skyline to be a successful building. As the building nears completion, the program that will fit inside it is also taking final shape.
Biotechnology means different things to different people.
Biotechnology is a new applied biology that embraces aspects of biological sciences, medicine, business, engineering, ethics, and many other disciplines. It also is a multibillion-dollar industry. Like all young industries, it has had growing pains, but it is here to stay and is already having an impact on all of our lives. This is both its greatest strength and its biggest challenge. Administrators often talk about the benefits of multidisciplinary science, but the university structure is biased heavily toward disciplines.