COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KRHD) — Texas A&M's Cyclotron Institute is getting a major upgrade after the university's Board of Regents approved a $28 million expansion project scheduled to begin later this year.
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The nearly 60-year-old building is home to students and researchers who use high-tech equipment to study atoms and build technology used in fields ranging from medicine to space. But as experiments have grown, so has the need for more room.
Robert Bartsch, a graduate research assistant at the institute, said the current setup leaves little room to work.
"There's a lot of very tight space here. We try and take advantage of the different things we can do."
Bartsch said every inch of the facility is accounted for, leaving researchers with limited options.
"We make the best of what we can, so everything fits together very tightly."
The constraints have had a direct impact on the kind of research students can conduct.
"I ran an experiment right here and it was very tight. We look forward to having new space."
Sherry Yennello, director of the Cyclotron Institute, said the expansion will benefit the institute across multiple areas.
"The expansion will help us in all of those dimensions fundamental science, applied science, and workforce development."
Bartsch said the physical limitations of the current space affect what experiments are even possible.
"As you can see, there's not a lot of room between here and the wall, and it limits what kinds of experiments we can perform here, because you got to make all your detectors fit in this region."
When 15 ABC asked Bartsch what kind of impact the expansion would have on current and future students, he said the additional space would open the door to more advanced research.
"It'll be very exciting to have the space where we can put new instruments, bigger instruments, and take real advantage of the space for performing new cutting-edge science."
"They'll have nice systems to perform interesting nuclear reactions and understand the world around us much better."
The expansion project is scheduled to begin later this year.
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