Construction is officially underway on the much-anticipated Nursing and Health Sciences Building on the Pitt-Johnstown campus. The 26,000-square-foot facility will include 11 laboratories for chemistry and biology, one nursing simulation laboratory, six faculty offices, and two seminar/classrooms spread over two floors. Located next to the Engineering and Science Building, the facility will complete the signature academic quad on the campus. At a projected cost of $12 million, the building is a significant component in a string of capital projects that have occurred on the campus in the past five years totaling more than $30 million. Construction will be managed by Pittsburgh-based Mascaro, with completion expected in the fall of 2013. The building has a sustainable/green design that is expected to earn Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, thereby becoming the first LEED-certified building on campus. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Monday, August 27. Photo highlights from the ceremony appear below. The Nursing and Health Sciences Building is the first academic building to be constructed on the campus in nearly two decades and will complement the academic quad formed by Biddle, Blackington, and Krebs Halls, and the Engineering and Science Building. With laboratory and classroom space for growing programs in biology, chemistry, and nursing, the facility will meet the educational needs a large majority Pitt-Johnstown's overall student population including not only the students who major in those areas, but those who complete coursework in those areas as requirements for graduation. Nearly 20% of all Pitt-Johnstown students are pursuing majors in the medical professions, including the recently revamped pre-med program. In the upcoming academic year, the nursing program will be at full capacity with 160 students and its first class will graduate in the spring. Just this week, Pitt-Johnstown announced a new partnership with Windber Research Institute that will promote education in the vitally important STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields.