The 70,000-square-foot, multi-story building features a variety of research labs, study spaces, and other tools designed to inspire innovation and entrepreneurship among the student body.
Located at 970 Technology Way, the building features four research labs and two classrooms aimed at providing support and resources to student entrepreneurs looking to start their own businesses.
The center’s main floor level will house a makerspace where students can engage with a variety of tools with on-site staff support including 3D printing, laser cutting, woodworking, electrical equipment.
Among the key research areas that will be conducted in the center include energy, digital healthcare, infrastructure, cybersecurity, food security and applied computing, according to Dr. Karin Scarpinato, KSU’s executive vice president for research.
The goal of the new building, she said, is to emphasize collaboration among these areas of study to conduct research projects that address complex, real-world challenges.
“KSU research has been growing tremendously and there was a need for new facilities, but in addition to that, we also wanted to specifically support interdisciplinary research,” Scarpinato said. “Many of the challenges that we’re seeing in the community require different disciplines coming together … That’s what this building really is meant to do. We’re really here to create new knowledge that helps our community.”
The center is scheduled to open next Friday, April 24, with the incoming fall 2026 semester.
Although the grand opening is scheduled for next week, a variety of in-depth research work is already underway in many of the center’s labs.
Some of the projects currently in development include creating an automated wheelchair that can move through voice commands, a study of traffic patterns and the relationship between self-driving and non-automated vehicles, along with research into improving companies’ cyber security measures.
The $60 million center was paid for through state funding, investments from KSU and a large sum donation from frequent KSU donors Robin and Doug Shore, whom the building is named after. Doug Shore serves on the KSU Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
“(This building) is the physical manifestation of what Robin and Doug Shore have been trying to do at KSU for years,” said Dr. Lou Marino, department chair of KSU’s Michael A. Leven School of Management, Entrepreneurship, and Hospitality. “Doug’s heart is truly in entrepreneurship, and it’s truly in building an ecosystem of entrepreneurship across campus so that every student and every faculty member, regardless of their major, has the opportunity to engage in innovation and entrepreneurship to help bring new things to life and to help impact the state of Georgia and the economy.”
Looking ahead to fall 2026, Scarpinato said she is eager to see the ideas and research projects that students bring to the lab.
“I really want to see what we can invent and create solutions around the challenges that we’re seeing in our community and really have an impact in our community and the public,” she said. “We have that entire pipeline in place now, so we want to very deliberately and intentionally address public challenges through our research and innovation.”
© 2026 Marietta Daily Journal, Ga. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
