UT Breaks Ground on New Chemistry Building

Leadership from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, gathered Sept. 5 to break ground for construction of the university’s new chemistry building. The Tennessee General Assembly set aside $165.5 million in its fiscal year 2025-26 budget for the project, the largest state investment ever funded for a single higher education project in Tennessee.

“The groundbreaking of this new chemistry building represents a crucial investment not only in the University of Tennessee but in all of Tennessee,” said Chancellor Donde Plowman. “This new facility will help meet the increasing demand to provide high-level chemistry education and training. Students will have access to research labs, teaching labs and collaborative spaces — creating an unparalleled student experience, the ability to perform high-impact research and critical hands-on training. These opportunities will prepare the future workforce to meet the needs of our state and beyond. I’m grateful to Governor Bill Lee and the state General Assembly for their transformative support of this new building.”

The chemical industry has invested more than $400 million in Tennessee over the past six years, creating more than 2,000 jobs. In June, U.S. News & World Report ranked UT as the No. 1 university in the nation for polymer science, a subset of chemistry.

“The new facility will help move our teaching of undergraduate chemistry classes to the next level,” said College of Arts and Sciences Interim Executive Dean Robert Hinde. “Our general chemistry program alone serves thousands of students across the university every semester. Once in operation, it will be a major catalyst for faculty and student innovation and discovery, and making life and lives better across Tennessee and around the world.”

Modern facilities for a growing student population

The eight-story, 162,000-square-foot building will be constructed on Cumberland Avenue between Strong Hall and the Winston College of Law. The Department of Chemistry serves students from a wide variety of majors, with nearly 6,000 students taking first-year chemistry courses each year. Plans for the new building include components to support sophisticated research and education:

Two 50-seat lecture halls
One 50-seat study room
30 research labs
Three teaching labs
12 collaborative spaces
Dedicated workstations for student researchers

The new facility will allow for significant projected growth in the department, including increases of 15% in the number of undergraduate majors, 20% in the number of graduate students, 20% in chemistry credit hours and 25% in external research grants.

“I am excited to witness this project coming to fruition, and I look forward to seeing this new building’s impact on the work that we do in the chemistry department,” said Brandon Watson-Sanders, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemistry and president of the Association of Chemistry Graduate Students. “I have no doubt that our new building will be a major catalyst for innovation and discovery in our research and help our department flourish.”