As part of one of the largest colleges and top-ranked universities of its kind in the country, students in the UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) benefit from award-winning teaching faculty, abundant scholarship and internship opportunities, and more than 50 major specializations.

However, our students are quickly outgrowing our campus classrooms, both in number and caliber. We have a vision to create cutting-edge, innovative spaces for our undergraduate students, including:

• A new teaching building for our students in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. A hands-on workshop connected to an engineering design studio will equip students in different majors to collaborate and explore concepts from beginning to end while building the technical and employability skills to launch their careers.

• A new microbiology teaching laboratory. Our UF lab courses are in high demand from future doctors, nurses, veterinarians, researchers, teachers and more. A new collaboration-minded microbiology lab on campus will pave the way for more students to engage with the foundational knowledge and techniques for their future, while opening their eyes to the science and innovation happening in the world around us.

• Renovated classrooms. McCarty lecture halls have not changed much over the decades, but our focus on collaboration has increased. Our vision is to trade uncomfortable, bolted-down desk chairs for moveable tables and wheeled swivel chairs that will encourage students to share ideas in groups and will make their classroom experiences reflect the quality of education we have to offer.

We believe these new and renovated spaces will empower our students to learn, invent, research, collaborate, and grow with hands-on experience, creating the momentum to improve agriculture, natural resources and the life sciences. Please reach out to our fundraising team, UF/IFAS Advancement, at 352-392-1975 or advancement@ifas.ufl.edu for ways your support can power these projects.

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