Kennesaw State University Breaks Ground on New STEM Facility

Kennesaw State University’s Marietta Campus recently broke ground on a new Interdisciplinary STEM Building (ISTEM) on its campus, according to university news.  The facility will measure 70,000 square feet and feature both research and teaching space across a variety of disciplines. Completion is scheduled for fall 2025.

At a groundbreaking ceremony on Feb. 2, KSU President Kathy Schwaig commented, “As an institution that's working to build our research infrastructure, this building is going to be a key component to our research mission. We solve problems not within disciplines, but across disciplines and so we will see advancements happen out of these laboratories that impact all the disciplines that we have on this campus and on our Kennesaw Campus such as business, the arts, the humanities, health, science and education.”

Amenities will include wet, dry, high-bay, cybersecurity research, teaching, and chemistry- and biology-based teaching labs, as well as classrooms and private study areas. It will also increase opportunities for student competition teams like the Aerial Robotics Team, the news release reports.

“I speak on behalf of the KSU Marietta Campus student body when I say that we are absolutely thrilled and thankful to have the ISTEM building here,” said KSU mechanical engineering student and President’s Parliament Student Ambassador Nick Farinacci. “We are incredibly grateful to those who made it possible. The ISTEM building will be such an amazing resource for our students and a new hub of innovation and learning.”

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Architectural Power for the Modern Campus Landscape

    For generations, an outdoor classroom only required a textbook and a patch of grass. Today, not only has the laptop replaced the printed pages, the rise of agile learning has turned campuses into study halls with students listening to lectures and researching topics from quads, gardens, and plazas. The challenge for architects and facility managers is to provide connectivity without cluttering the landscape with visual eyesores or creating safety hazards with extension cords.

  • Colorado School District Breaks Ground on Unified PK–12 Campus

    The Haxtun School District No. Re-2J in Haxtun, Colo., recently announced that ground has been broken on a renovation/addition project that will unite its two schools, Haxtun Elementary and Haxtun Jr/Sr High School, according to a news release.

  • Q&A: How to Prevent Kitchen Grease Fires in Commercial Kitchens

    School cafeterias and university dining halls serve thousands of meals daily, relying on high-heat equipment like fryers, grills, and ovens. While these operations keep students fed, they also generate significant grease-laden vapors. Without proper controls, this grease becomes a silent fire threat. As a certified exhaust cleaning specialist and business coach who has helped hundreds of institutional facilities achieve NFPA 96 compliance, I emphasize that proactive grease management isn’t optional; it’s a core fire/life safety practice.

  • Montclair State University Starts Construction on $120M STEM Building

    Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J., recently broke ground on a new $120-million Interdisciplinary Science Building, according to university news. The university partnered with HoK Architects for the project’s design, and it’s scheduled to open in time for the 2028–29 academic year.