[ngg_images gallery_ids=”383″ display_type=”ds-nextgen_royalslider”]
McAuliffe makes official rebranding of George Mason University Prince William Campus
Governor Terry McAuliffe was on site at the George Mason University campus in Prince William to launch the Institute for Advanced Biomedical Research and to announce the campus’ new name.
The institute, which is a 75,000 square foot space that has room for more than 100 researchers and scientists, is all a part of the university’s decision to focus their Prince William Campus on the sciences and technology.
“We’re here to officially cut the ribbon on our new institute for advanced biomedical research…We are renaming this campus, it’s no longer the Prince William George Mason University Campus – we are now renaming it the George Mason University Science and Technology Campus,” said McAuliffe.
Researchers have already begun their work, according to George Mason University president Angel Cabrera – working on Lyme disease tests and human genome sequencing.
Cabrera stated at the ribbon cutting that the changes to the university are aimed at changing Virginia’s economy.
“The governor ran for office on a campaign on jobs – on innovation, on rebuilding the economy. And when he talked about jobs and innovation, we actually listened…it is about transforming the economy in Virginia, it’s about turning this region into one of the most innovative places – that is constantly attracting the best talent around the world,” Cabrera said.
McAuliffe stated that Virginia is falling behind in the area of biosciences, and expressed concerns about the regional economy relying to heavily on Department of Defense and federal related jobs, which are subject to frequent cuts and sequestration over the past few years.
“I talk a lot about building that new Virginia economy – we have to do it…it’s all about science and technology. It’s all about biosciences…and we have lagged behind in biosciences. I went to a big bioscience conference in Las Vegas last year… and they listed the top 25 states in America for biosciences. We were not on that list folks…we can create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the bioscience space,” said McAuliffe.
Following the ceremony, McAuliffe also attended the VA BIO 2015 THRIVE conference on bioscience in Fairfax.
