Construction officially began Friday on the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, the public-private partnership that will house much of UW-Madison's future interdisciplinary research.
Gov. Jim Doyle, members of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and UW-Madison Alumni John and Tashia Morgridge welcomed community members during a groundbreaking ceremony Friday at the building site on the 1300 block of University Avenue.
We are on the verge of the integration of the most unique public [and] private institute anywhere in the world dedicated to the kind of research that will improve people's lives for generations to come,"" Doyle said.
The building will host both the private, nonprofit Morgridge Institute for Research and the public Wisconsin Institute for Discovery.
Carl Gulbrandsen, chair of the MIR board of trustees and managing director of WARF, called the partnership ""truly a role model for innovations in the 21st Century scientific endeavors.""
""The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery is a creative leap of faith among a handful of visionary individuals willing to invest serious dollars to make their dream a reality,"" Chancellor John Wiley said, said who spoke at the ceremony.
Funding for the building was provided by a $50 million gift from the Morgridge family, $50 million from WARF and $50 million from the state.
In addition to research wings, the building has allotted room for a talent sector with public space for performances and an area for fine and casual dining. The institutes ""will welcome and nurture the arts, educate our community [and] our children,"" Gulbrandsen said.
Tashia Morgridge said the institutes will also include a multi-story teaching lab that specializes in hands-on learning. She said the main floor public space will also be used for workshops, lectures and other events.
""I am pleased to make the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery one of the cornerstones of this campus, something that every researcher, professor, student, alum and citizen of this state can be proud of,"" WID Interim Director Marsha Mailick Seltzer said.
Construction is scheduled to complete in 2010. For more information about the institutes, log on to www.discovery.wisc.edu.
