Cornell University has announced a $30 million commitment from alumnus David R. Atkinson ('60) and his wife, Patricia, to fund construction of a multidisciplinary facility designed to foster innovative and collaborative research in the areas of sustainability, public health, cancer biology, immunology, and computational biology.

The planned four-story, ninety-thousand-square-foot Atkinson Hall will house the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, which was established with an $80 million gift from the couple in 2010; the university's Master of Public Health program; the Center for Immunology; the Friedman Center for Nutrition and Inflammation; a planned Center for Cancer Biology; and the Department of Computational Biology. Designed to support the needs of each program while facilitating collaboration among colleagues across the university's schools and campuses, the building will include gathering and group work areas; a mix of closed and open wet lab environments; and meeting spaces for groups of various sizes and technology-enabled virtual interactions. According to a university spokesperson, the LEED Gold-certified and net-zero-carbon ready building will take advantage of natural light and an innovative "envelope" design to reduce energy use and will manage stormwater runoff with the help of an exterior rain garden.

"While Atkinson Hall will be an inspiring physical home for researchers across the university," said Cornell board chair Robert S. Harrison, "its reach will immediately transcend its own walls and our Ithaca campus by building ever more productive collaborations with our colleagues at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell Tech in New York City."

The Atkinsons' previous support for Cornell includes a gift to endow the David R. Atkinson Professorship of Ecology and Environmental Biology at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

"This building will serve as a hub for ambitious, smart people with amazing expertise in many disciplines to come together and by sharing their creativity and knowledge move us along a path to a better future," said Atkinson.