(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa is moving forward with plans to construct a new hydraulic modeling facility for the College of Engineering. U-I Vice President Rod Lenhertz in a presentation to the Regents, says the facility will provide space for future growth. “To consolidate a lot of their work around the research related to as the as the docket item suggests and indicates canal, large rivers, dams, spillways and other projects they do,” he says. Lenhertz says the Hydroscience & Engineering program is a world-renowned center for education, research, and public service focusing on fluids. He says it requires a specific facility for the work.

“Generally large volumes of space with the equipment and water that are needed to model different bodies of water at the project sites that they’re working on. We would start the planning immediately and would come back to the Board of Regents with a with a budget and design,” he says. The budget right now is estimated at 32 to 40 million dollars. The Board of Regents also gave Iowa State University permission to expand the existing two wards at the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center Large Animal Hospital. I-S-U vice president, Heather Paris says they would also add a new third ward.

“This project would expand the facility by over 17-thousand square feet to include expansion of current large animal reproductive services as well as enhancement of our professional student and resident training opportunities,” Paris says. She says they would expand in multiple phases. “With the first focused on the equine I-C-U stall, reproductive services, feed and bedding storage and shared storage space,” Paris says. “The total proposed budget of nine-point-two million would be funded by College of Veterinary Medicine funds, with construction scheduled to begin in spring of 2025.”

The Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center Large Animal Hospital was built in 1976. The Board of Regents approved the two projects at their meeting last week in Ames.