A legacy in motion
Missouri S&T is transforming campus and the future — one building at a time.
Capital projects including state-of-the-art facilities and the transformation of the Havener Arrival Complex don’t just enhance infrastructure: they improve student experience and drive groundbreaking research.
“The goal is to bring the quality of our physical environment up to the level of our academic reputation, which is second to none,” says Fred Stone, associate vice chancellor of facility planning and operations. “As an S&T alumnus, it’s exciting to be involved in this incredible transformation, one that will set the university up for the next 50 or 100 years.”
This transformation is made possible through strategic collaboration between S&T and the Kummer Missouri S&T Foundation, playing a vital role in bringing the vision of Fred and June Kummer to life. Their legacy continues to shape the university’s future by funding these capital projects that empower students, faculty and industry partners.
A new front door
One mission of the 2020 Campus Master Plan was to create an inviting entrance that inspires visitors.
That plan, approved by the University of Missouri Board of Curators in September 2021, and its vision are becoming a reality thanks to S&T alumnus, Texas entrepreneur and founding member of the Kummer Missouri S&T Foundation board Gary Havener, who donated a historic $25 million to the Havener Arrival Complex.
Now when people enter campus, they see the Innovation Lab, the Grand Lawn and the Rolla Building. They can drive to the underground parking structure and walk to the Welcome Center.
“The Havener Arrival Complex supports our North Star goal to increase enrollment to 12,000 students, and I believe it’s going to have a material impact on that,” Stone says.
A meaningful welcome
The Welcome Center will become the university’s handshake, its first impression and an invitation to S&T.
Krysta Swartz, civil engineering alumna from Caseyville, Illinois, was a student ambassador who led tours and campus events. What kept her here, and what she emphasizes to students considering S&T, is that everyone goes out of their way to welcome people.
“There’s a feeling people get when they first step on campus,” she says. “I think the Welcome Center will give visitors an even stronger sense of how truly welcome they are at S&T.”
Justin Rauls, assistant director for transfer admissions, says the facility will be a one-stop location that showcases opportunities for hands-on learning.
“We’ll be able to control that first impression and truly welcome people as guests, make them feel comfortable and direct them where they’re going,” Rauls says. “It’s an immediate resource to help the moment they get here.”
A space to innovate
For Anthony Stroot, a first-year student in business management systems from Peculiar, Missouri, the Innovation Lab isn’t just a new place to study.
Stroot found a home in the Makers Studio, where students can learn woodworking, 3D printing, design and more.
There, he found a new passion for woodworking and uses the equipment to create meaningful items for people in his life.
“My mom died at the beginning of last semester,” Stroot says. “But once I found out I could use the laser cutter to print images, I printed images of my mom and gave them to family members and friends.”
In the Makers Studio, Stroot developed skills, made friends and honored his mother’s memory. More than just a building, the Innovation Lab is a space for personal growth and connection.
Collaborating with industry
The Missouri Protoplex will transform the future of manufacturing through powerful industry collaboration.
In April 2025, Missouri S&T announced a major partnership with Solvus Global, a Massachusetts-based leader in advanced manufacturing. Solvus Global is the first company to establish manufacturing operations within the Protoplex, bringing cutting-edge capabilities and creating new job opportunities in Missouri.
“Their decision to establish a location here is a testament to the success of our initiatives, and it will create numerous new job opportunities in Missouri,” says Richard Billo, director of S&T’s Kummer Institute Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Missouri Protoplex.
Solvus Global joins industry leaders Caterpillar and Boeing as key partners in the Protoplex, underscoring the facility’s role as a hub for innovation, collaboration and workforce development in advanced manufacturing.
“That facility is absolutely going to allow us to work with these companies on a large scale in a way that we just couldn’t do before,” Billo says.
More room for research
Chang-Soo Kim, professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been on the faculty for 23 years. He began his S&T career in a Materials Research Center lab during his early years as assistant professor.
“At that time, the facility had limited space and capabilities, which eventually necessitated relocating my lab as my research program expanded,” he says.
The expansion of the Applied Research Center will solve that problem. Not only will it have a new microelectronics cleanroom and more space, Kim says the renovation will support educating students in microelectronics and semiconductors, which will help prepare a highly skilled workforce.
“The Applied Research Center is a prime example of how we’re expanding to give our students, industry partners and faculty the ability to do things we couldn’t previously do.”
“I have long advocated for growth in this area, and I am thrilled to see this vision come to fruition, thanks to the generous support of an S&T alumnus and the Kummer Institute,” he says.
Kim says the facility will have an interdisciplinary impact, benefiting departments in chemistry and physics, as well as electrical, computer, materials, chemical and mechanical engineering. He says it also helps maintain our Carnegie R1 research status by attracting more Ph.D. students.
Rauls says visitors often ask how students can get hands-on experience at S&T, and this project is one example of those opportunities.
“One of the things I’m most proud of is how quickly students can get involved in research,” Rauls says. “The Applied Research Center is a prime example of how we’re expanding to give our students, industry partners and faculty the ability to do things we couldn’t previously do.”
Innovation in health care
After nearly three decades at S&T, Dave Westenberg, Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor of biological sciences, sees the Bioplex as more than just a new building: It’s a launchpad for collaboration and discovery.
For him, the Bioplex won’t just be an established home for health science and medical engineering on campus, but also a space where he and his students can better collaborate with colleagues from other disciplines on campus.
“At the Bioplex, students will realize they can have productive careers in areas they never would have imagined.”
“We’ll be in a space where we can find that colleague just a room over and ask, ‘What are you all doing?’ Then find out more and see if there is a connection,” he says. “It’s in those random conversations where science is most impactful.”
Westenberg says this collaboration is important for biology students, since the field continues to expand into other areas of science.
“The biology career of the future is going to be at the interfaces with other science and engineering disciplines,” he says. “At the Bioplex, students will realize they can have productive careers in areas they never would have imagined.”
For Westenberg, the Bioplex represents all that S&T can accomplish through collaboration that will impact the world.
“That’s where the breakthroughs are going to come from,” he says.
Looking to the future
From welcoming new students at the arrival complex to pioneering innovations in the Bioplex and Protoplex, S&T is building more than just structures — the university is shaping a campus for the next generation of leaders.
“We’re in a unique spot where S&T is building such impressive technological high points and academic features with the intention of paving the way, not just for the future of this university, but for solving for tomorrow,” Stone says. “It’s not just construction for construction’s sake. It is very much intentional, and each project is being developed with our students’ long-term goals and destinies in mind.”