By Alexia Williams
Staff Writer
After a year and a half of planning, with numerous meetings and tours, a new science building is set to break ground at 6 p.m. on Sept. 28.
Cal State Dominguez Hills President Willie J. Hagan plans to speak at the opening ceremony, according to an announcement emailed to the campus community.
CSUDH is in the process of building the new, three-story, 87,000-square-foot Center for Science and Innovation.
The building will serve as an addition to the current science building located across from the library. The older building will be renovated as well.
However, the South Academic Complex (SAC 1) will be demolished when the new building is constructed.
The new center will feature modernized labs for chemistry, biology and microbiology students and faculty.
The project is planned to start at the end of October and will take about two years to complete.
The Toyota Foundation, an arm of one of the world’s largest automakers, donated $4 million to Dominguez Hills. They also donated an additional $750,000 grant toward fabrication labs, which allow K-12 teacher demonstrations and training technology enhanced classrooms with 3-D printers, laser cutters and other tools.
Toyota until recently located its U.S. headquarters in Torrance and has been active in donating to local organizations. Toyota recently located its U.S. headquarters to Texas.