It looks as if N.C. Central University will soon have one more state-of-the-art building.

The completion of NCCU’s $20.1 million Biomanufacturing Research Institute & Technology Enterprise Center is currently underway.

The 52,000 sq. ft. BRITE Center will serve as a haven for faculty, undergraduate and graduate students interested in pursuing careers in pharmaceutical sciences, with emphasis on biomanufacturing and biotechnology.

Li-An Yeh, director of the BRITE program, said the purpose of the program and its facilities is to serve as a training module for students who are seeking occupations in the field of biomanufacturing.

Through the BRITE curriculum and hands-on laboratory experience available for students, Yeh said she feels the addition of the facility will give students a competitive edge when seeking post-graduation options.

“We want our students who enter the program to leave NCCU prepared … ,” said Yeh.

“When employers start searching for adequacy and experience, they will find it in our students.”

The building will provide 31,000 sq. ft. of lab space and 21,000 sq. ft. of high-technology-based classrooms and faculty offices.

The program and design phases were completed by O’Brien/Atkins Associates, PA and The Freelon Group Inc. in March 2006.

The architectural make-up of the BRITE Center is designed to connect a pathway to the north face of the west extension of the Mary M. Townes Science Building.

The center’s faculty is optimistic construction will be completed by the revised March 2008 completion date. But the project has suffered setbacks in the past. Construction of the BRITE Center began in November 2006. The BRITE Center was originally scheduled for construction to start in April 2006 with hopes of its completion in August 2007. The project was delayed because Yeh had to find grants to purchase equipment. In 2004, the BRITE program was awarded $17.8 million in grants through the Golden LEAF Foundation, a non-profit organization that funds local agencies, academic institutions and organizations in N.C. counties from cigarette sales.

In September 2006, the Golden LEAF Foundation awarded the BRITE program with another $2.3 million to continue with plans for construction.

Yeh said she hopes that the new facility will attract more students into the BRITE program.

Although the program now has 66 undergraduate students, Yeh said she wants to recruit an additional 200 undergraduates by fall 2008.

The construction site is already catching the eye of interested students such as Hadassah Watson, a pharmaceutical science junior and BRITE program participant.

Watson joined the BRITE program this fall after switching her major from chemistry.

She said the BRITE Center will add a competitive edge to the University, especially as NCCU makes the transition into the ranks of Division I.