Clark Team Celebrates “Garland-Cutting Ceremony” with Berkeley Lab and DOE for State-of-The-Art Earth Science Lab

On December 3, Clark joined Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and guests from the Department of Energy (DOE) at a “garland-cutting” ceremony to celebrate the near completion of the Biological and Environmental Program Integration Center (BioEPIC). 

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The four-story, 71,000-square-foot building offers a dedicated research environment for approximately 200 researchers who study how microbial communities interact with plants and soil to influence the environment and vice versa across scales of space and time. The research building will feature abundant natural lighting throughout wet and dry laboratories, research office spaces, a rooftop greenhouse, and conference and collaboration spaces. 

Researchers will have access to state-of-the-art technology, including a cryo-electron microscopy facility, innovative sensors and advanced computing, and controlled ecosystems like EcoPODs, which allow scientists to replicate the plant-soil-microbe-atmosphere interactions of the natural environment within enclosed chambers about the size of a Mini Cooper standing on its end.

A formal opening ribbon-cutting opening ceremony is planned for early 2025 upon final completion. The project is expected to achieve LEED Gold certification. 

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📸 Photo Credit: Thor Swift / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

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