The University of Kansas is adding a $20- million, 45,000- sq.- ft. (4,181- sq.- m.) final building to its Structural Biology Center, part of the Higuchi Biosciences Center in Lawrence. Directly adjacent is the university's new Multidisciplinary Research Building.
   The city of Olathe, a Kansas City suburb, in July donated 100 acres (41 hectares) of land for development of a bioscience research park by Kansas State University and the Kansas Bioscience Authority.

Clay Blair, Chairman, Kansas Bioscience Authority

Both institutions, along with the University of Kansas and others, are also involved in the longer- term development of a bioscience campus on the grounds of the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Depot in nearby DeSoto. The chairman of the Kansas Bioscience Authority is real estate developer Clay Blair, who himself donated the land for the separate University of Kansas Edwards campus in Johnson County. The Authority is also backing a new wet- lab incubator adjacent to the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan.
   In late October the new Biosecurity Research Institute in Pat Roberts Hall, on the campus of Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., was dedicated. The $54- million, 113,000- sq.- ft. (10,498- sq.- m.) institute, a biosafety level 3 facility, will provide space in which to study pathogens and pests that threaten animal and plant- based agricultural systems, and to develop intervention strategies to minimize impacts on the nation's food supply and economy. The range of research possibilities includes avian flu, brucellosis, soybean rust, salmonella and E. coli.
   "People and goods move over greater distances in shorter periods of time than ever before," said Jim Stack, institute director. "With these people and goods move pathogens and insect pests. As a result, populations of hosts – humans, for example – pathogens and vectors are mixing at greater frequencies resulting in the emergence of new diseases and the geographic redistribution of recurring diseases. The pace of the world has quickened; disease detection, diagnosis and response must keep pace."
   School- supported facility growth of a different airborne variety was announced in October in Wichita, where an aviation technology training center long in demand by area aerospace companies will be built on the grounds of a new campus at Jabara Airport field. The new 107,000- sq.- ft. (9,940- sq.- m.) facility will be part of a larger campus intended to train more than 5,000 people a year. The area is seeing industry growth from Spirit Aerosystems, Cessna, Raytheon and Bombardier, with Cessna alone wanting to add 1,500 positions. But the work force is aging. A study released in November by the Sedgwick County Technical Education & Training Authority reported, "It is expected that we need at least 5,000 skilled workers now, and the demand will require an additional 1,000 trained workers each year for the next 10 years."
   The Kansas Institute for Technical Excellence (KITE) – a consortium that includes Wichita Area Technical College, as well as Butler, Cowley, and Hutchinson Community Colleges – will deliver training at the facility. Sedgwick County will contribute $16 million in matching funds toward the facility and up to $40 million for the entire campus. And the state of Kansas will contribute $2 million in Workforce Solutions funds.
   Established under the Economic Growth Act of 2004, the Workforce Solutions Fund is used to help Kansas postsecondary institutions build curriculum, facilities, and training programs that more closely fit the needs of area businesses. Last year, the fund provided $1.5 million to Johnson County Community College to build a new training facility for bioscience- related technicians.