Kennesaw State University held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 23 to mark the official opening of the Robin and Doug Shore Innovation Center, a new 70,000-square-foot facility on its Marietta Campus.
The center is designed to accelerate research innovation by connecting experts from different fields in a shared space. The building aims to expand research capacity and help move discoveries into real-world solutions more quickly.
“Today marks a major milestone for Kennesaw State and for the future of research and innovation at KSU,” President Kathy S. Schwaig said. “The Robin and Doug Shore Innovation Center was designed to advance collaborative interdisciplinary research and teaching in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, fields that are central to the challenges and opportunities of our time.”
The $60 million structure houses four new labs, a makerspace, two classrooms, 22 faculty research teams, the Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship Center within the Michael J. Coles College of Business, as well as the Office of Research’s Center for Interactive Media. The event also honored longtime university supporters Robin and Doug Shore for their significant contributions since 1999.
“It is especially fitting that this building bears the names Robin and Doug Shore,” Schwaig added. “For years, Robin and Doug have played a pivotal role in expanding entrepreneurship education and innovation at Kennesaw State, while steadfastly supporting our students and their ideas. Their legacy of service and philanthropy at Kennesaw State touches nearly every corner of our university.”
The facility places interdisciplinary labs side by side with shared spaces intended to foster collaboration among faculty from various disciplines. Karin Scarpinato, executive vice president of research at KSU said: “Tomorrow’s most pressing challenges transcend any single discipline, and meeting them requires an environment where scholars from diverse fields can work side by side… By fostering collaboration and expanding our research capacity, it positions KSU to translate discovery into meaningful impact for the communities we serve.”
Projects already underway include water quality monitoring led by Ahyoung Lee that brings together faculty from four colleges to help detect contamination earlier through real-time systems tested in partnership with local governments. “This is not just a schoolhouse project,” Lee said. “This is work with the community outside KSU.” Another example includes Da Hu’s use of ground-penetrating radar combined with artificial intelligence to map underground infrastructure; Hu noted that proximity within this new space will make collaboration easier: “I believe this will speed up the research… That will help us move the work forward.” Mehmet Aktas highlighted how being together helps drive active interdisciplinary projects: “To make that research active it’s important to put people together in the same place.” Amelia Estwick emphasized benefits for students working alongside peers across disciplines: “Putting all of us in one place is really advantageous not only for KSU but for public good—and definitely for our students.”
Scarpinato concluded: “Over time,the impact…will be measured not by number of labs it contains,but by culture it creates.It is place where collaboration expected curiosity visible,and discovery tied application.”