Several construction and facility improvement projects either recently completed, under way or in the advanced planning stages at San Diego State University will enhance the academic experience at SDSU and increase access to campus.

The most recognizable of those projects is the underground on-campus trolley station, the flagship stop of the 5.9-mile Mission Valley East Trolley Extension project that will connect trolley service from Mission Valley to La Mesa. Located in the heart of the SDSU campus, the underground station measures 300 feet long, 80 feet wide and 55 feet high, and will be complemented by many aesthetic and logistical features aboveground.

One of those features is the recently erected pedestrian bridge. The 219-foot, suspension-style bridge spans College Avenue and will become a new gateway to the SDSU campus and an architectural landmark for the community.

Soon, the 219-foot, suspension-style bridge, which spans College Avenue, will become the new gateway to the SDSU campus.

"The bridge will serve as an important pedestrian link between our residence halls and parking structures on the east side of College Avenue to the rest of SDSU campus," said Clayton Kraft, SDSU project manager.

The bridge is expected to open this fall. Kraft estimated that up to 40,000 people will cross the new pedestrian bridge per day.

In addition, SDSU will soon break ground on what will be the first facility on a California State University campus that will bring university researchers and private biotechnology business together under one roof.

The SDSU BioScience Center will be a five-story, 38,200-square-foot facility that will house several of SDSU's top bioscience programs, including the San Diego State University Heart Institute, the Center for Microbial Sciences, the Molecular Biology Institute and other core research facilities. Of the $13 million needed to complete the project, more than $8 million in financing already has been secured through the San Diego State University Foundation, a nonprofit auxiliary of the university that facilitates the grant application process for faculty members and administers grants and contracts for the university.

When complete, the five-story, 38,200-square-foot SDSU BioScience Center will house several of the school's bioscience programs.

Judith Zyskind, SDSU biology professor and co-founder of Elitra Pharmaceuticals Inc., was recently named director of the BioScience Center.

"In addition to providing much needed additional research space for faculty and students, a portion of the BioScience Center will serve as an incubator for fledgling biotech firms in need of research facilities," Zyskind said. "Our students are a major source of research staff for biotech firms in the area, and work experience within the center will enhance their opportunities in this work force and will provide an even more highly trained source of employees with unique skill sets."

Stanley Maloy, a newly recruited professor of biology at SDSU and director of the Center for Microbial Sciences, said the BioScience Center will provide a productive, stimulating and interactive research environment that will lead to rapid progress in many fields of microbial biology, particularly in the area of homeland defense.

"The center will be directly involved in enhancing preparedness for bioterrorism by supporting research with organisms considered most likely to be agents of biological warfare," he said.

Chris Glembotski, chair of the Department of Biology at SDSU and director of the SDSU Heart Institute, offered one example of how the center will improve all areas of bioscience research at the university.

"Last year SDSU Heart Institute faculty were awarded more than $5 million in funding to carry out research projects focused on reducing the prevalence of heart disease," Glembotski said. "And while that is a tremendous accomplishment, the BioScience center will allow us to greatly improve upon that mark, as well as our ability to earn grants and make discoveries that will eventually lead to cures for heart disease. In the same manner, the BioScience Center will increase the depth and breadth of all research in the biological sciences at SDSU."

SDSU President Stephen L. Weber said the BioScience Center is a natural next step for SDSU as it continues to distinguish itself as a top research university. SDSU currently ranks among the top 7 percent of universities nationwide conducting research, according to the Carnegie Foundation.

"Realizing the potential of San Diego is an important element of San Diego State University's mission," Weber said. "The BioScience Center is still another expression of the synergy between San Diego State and the community it serves."

The BioScience Center will complement other new science buildings on campus, including the $23.4 million renovation of the Chemistry-Geology building completed in April and the $31 million, 106,000-square-foot Chemical Sciences Laboratory that opened in 2001.

"We're creating an environment that will keep our faculty and students on the leading edge of discovery and applying these discoveries," said Tom Scott, dean of the SDSU College of Sciences