Among those scheduled to speak, and turn ceremonial shovelfuls of dirt, are Gov. Matt Mead, UW President Laurie Nichols and UW Board of Trustees President Dave True.

The public is invited to the groundbreaking ceremony. Other scheduled speakers include state Senate President Eli Bebout, House Speaker Steve Harshman, former Gov. Dave Freudenthal and UW Vice President for Research and Economic Development Ed Synakowski.

Freudenthal was a co-chair of the Wyoming Governor’s Top-Tier Science Programs and Facilities Task Force, which developed the Science Initiative plan along with a team of UW science faculty members. The other co-chair — Carol Brewer, a UW alumnus now on the faculty of the University of Montana’s Division of Biological Sciences — will participate in the groundbreaking ceremony.

The Science Initiative facility will contain a 200-seat active-learning classroom, along with state-of-the-art research and laboratory space to support scientific imaging, biological and greenhouse research. The initiative emphasizes collaboration among multiple disciplines by assembling researchers into a single complex with shared instrumentation, technical support and collaboration spaces.

The $100 million project is scheduled for completion in early 2021.

Through life and data sciences research that impacts areas including mineral extraction, agriculture, tourism, resource management and high technology, the Science Initiative will have direct economic impact through efficient translation of ideas to the marketplace. Combined with the Tier-1 Engineering Initiative, the Science Initiative’s multidisciplinary research will propel UW into national prominence as a center for economically driven, research-based education in science, engineering, technology and mathematics.