Montana Tech to get $10M Materials Science research center, doctorate program

With their newly approved Ph.D. program in materials science, Montana Tech has positioned itself to make significant strides in its research capabilities. Those capabilities will also be enhanced by a new $10 million research center, which the Board of Regents also approved last week.

Chancellor Don Blackketter said last week that he wants to have the new 35,000-square-feet Natural Resources Research Center up and running by 2015.

The building will be funded by $5 million of state money and an additional $5 million of matching funds raised by Tech.

Tech Provost Doug Abbott said the collaborative aspect of the material science program, which will combine the resources, facilities, and faculties of Montana Tech, Montana State University, and University of Montana, will even enable it to compete against more established and larger programs, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of California, Berkeley.

By FRANCIS DAVIS Montana Standard

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