THUNDER BAY – It’s been a dozen years in the making but Lakehead University’s prized $26-million new building is up and running.
Lakehead on Friday held a formal grand opening for their new Centre for Advanced Studies in Engineering and Sciences, a 42,000 square foot building that included a renovation of the former forestry and natural resources building as well as an addition.
The university had submitted proposals to government for a new research facility beginning in 2006, with subsequent proposals denied before the CASES plan got the go-ahead in 2016.
Andrew Dean, the university’s vice president of research and innovation, said there were times when he thought it would never finish.
“It is a world-class facility. When you mention it to people you’re trying to recruit or visiting scientists or graduate students, those types of pieces of equipment and that kind of facility and space, they know what they’re talking about,” Dean said.
“They say, ‘Oh, maybe I didn’t expect that I was going to get that going to Lakehead in Thunder Bay but now that I do know it’s going to be there, that changes the conversation.’”
The project, which had a total $26.2 million price tag, received a nearly $9 million contribution from the federal government, $6.5 million from the province which includes $5 million in Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation dollars and $1 million from the city.
The building will be home to a number of the university’s Canada Research Chairs, faculty of graduate studies, a 4,300 square foot business incubator space, the human origins laboratory, prototype development facility and Aboriginal mentorship program.
Pedram Fatehi, an associate professor and Canada Research Chair in green chemicals and processes, said Lakehead will put a big flag for Thunder Bay on the research and development map of Canada.
“We have fantastic centres and labs in this building. What you can find here, you may not find elsewhere in Canada,” Fatehi said.
“The facilities are really great. They are advanced, brand new, from many different parts of the world. Whatever people can do in large schools in Canada, the United States or somewhere else, they can do it here.”
Fatehi, who is originally from Iran and came to Lakehead in 2011 from another Canadian university, said researchers have already been approached with interest by companies from all over the world, including China, Sweden, Brazil and South Africa.
The university is now competing with the big players in science contribution and research development, he added.
“We feel that we’re working at a very different level. The impact has been (perceptible),” Fatehi said.
“From our publications, when we submit to this journal which has a high, high quality, now we can pass through their process. When we talk to big, big chemical companies, we have the opportunity to go further. Big companies are approaching us. We are a big player. We have more confidence, we feel we can do a lot more and we’ve seen some sign of that.”
MP Don Rusnak (Lib., Thunder Bay-Rainy River) said the new building and equipment can play a big role in keeping students in Northwestern Ontario, as well as attracting from outside.
“It’s an absolutely amazing facility,” Rusnak said. “I was a student here in the (1990s) and I’m just seeing the university add and add to its physical presence here in the region. This building is going to be remarkable for the students, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous from the region, to do research right here in Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario.”
The building will also house the laboratory for integrated freshwater science, centre of excellence for sustainable mining and exploration, biomass utilization laboratory and community ecological energetics laboratory.
Rusnak said that natural resources focus is critical for the region after the decline in the lumber and pulp and paper industries.
“We have to be smarter about how we use our natural resources and this facility is part of making sure we do the research right here and turn that research into an economy for the future,” Rusnak said.
