What: UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center (UF/IFAS WFREC) celebrates the opening of a new dormitory facility that will accommodate 16 graduate students, increasing research capability.
Where: UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center, 4253 Experiment Road, Highway 182, Jay, Florida 32565
When: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. CT, Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Media RSVP contact: Robin Vickers, rvickers@ufl.edu, 850-983-7134 or 850-393-7334
About: Significant access to graduate level research capability comes to the UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center (UF/IFAS WFREC) with the opening of new graduate student dormitories.
“We have graduate students from all over the country and international students that come here to learn. But our research facility in Jay, Fl., is remote, and many students don’t have a vehicle,” said Wes Wood, UF/IFAS WFREC Center director. “Having a good dormitory facility onsite at our research facility makes it easier for recruiting great graduate level students looking to complete innovative work.”
The new facility has been years in the making coming to life as an idea nearly five years ago. Construction began two years ago and completed on May 15 of this year.
“It’s been a long process that’s involved many people, including our advisory board, but now that it’s coming to fruition, I’m really appreciative,” Wood said. “It’s going to be great.”
J. Bryan Unruh, associate Center director, says that the new facility offers graduate students a sense of home and recreational opportunities. “Knowing where we intended to build the dorms, a few years back when student wellness funding became available, we built a basketball court adjacent to the new dormitory location. It’s even painted to support pickleball now.”
The offerings don’t stop there. “Just across the street there’s a three-acre field that will be maintained as lawns for our students to have a place to play soccer,” said Unruh.
The facilities are also an improvement over older dormitory designs that had four shared bedrooms.
“It’s a more modern footprint. Two buildings, each with eight individual bedrooms, allow the students to have their own space,” said Unruh. “This should help increase the opportunities for them to stay a bit longer if the research needs it.”
Each dormitory offers shared living, dining, laundry, and kitchen areas with four bathrooms.
Members of the media are invited to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony and a tour of the facility on Tuesday, June 30, that will be held at UF/IFAS WFREC Jay Research Facility. Many UF/IFAS leadership and faculty will be in attendance, and light refreshments will be served.
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ABOUT UF/IFAS
The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS brings science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents.
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