In his fifth major donation, philanthropist Lorry Lokey has promised $15 million to expand the integrative sciences complex, one of the existing building projects on the campus. The building is tied to the Lorry Lokey Laboratories, an underground lab currently under construction across East 13th Ave. from Carson Hall.
The buildings will house millions of dollars worth of equipment to expand the University’s research into controversial, Department of Defense-funded nanotechnology, which critics say is de facto military research. The building will also explore stem-cell research, Lokey said at the laboratory’s June groundbreaking, as well as cognitive neuroscience, materials science, biology and computer information. Additionally, the Associated Press reported, it will further ties between the University and the Northwest’s expanding high-tech industrial sector.
“We are profoundly grateful for Lorry Lokey’s most recent investment in the University of Oregon ‘s academic future,” vice president for University Advancement Allan Price told the Emerald. “The new integrative science building will vastly expand our faculty’s research and teaching capacity in fields such as cognitive neuroscience, leading to discoveries about the human brain that will transform lives.”
Lokey’s total donations of almost $50 million to the University in recent years have made it one of his leading philanthropic projects. Founder and former chairman of the corporate news service Business Wire, Lokey profited handily in its operation and its 2006 sale to billionaire investor Warren Buffet’s company, Berkshire Hathaway. Lokey has since turned to large-scale philanthropy and has rapidly become one of the University’s most generous donators.
Last summer Lokey donated $10 million toward the science complex. Prior to that, he donated $4.5 million to the School of Journalism and Communication’s Turnbull Portland Center, $5 million for the remodeling and expansion of the MarAbel B. Frohnmayer Music School and $12.5 million to the College of Education.