Sci Tech Open January 2026

The University of Wisconsin-River Falls plans to expand their college of arts and sciences, as the majors in the program are continuing to grow. This initiated the start of a project to build a new science hall to allow for more classrooms and equipment to account for advanced courses and more students.

Former student center, Hagsted Hall, was torn down in summer of 2023 and the new Science and Technology Innovation Center was built in it's place, with construction complete in late 2025. SciTech will be open for students starting in Jan. 2026 and will accommodate for numerous spring semester classes.

According to the UWRF website, "SciTech will be a transformational facility, prominently located on the UWRF campus, where students from a wide range of majors will engage in immersive, high-impact learning experiences in biology, chemistry, physics and psychological sciences."

The newly built center will allow for 12 instructional labs, 32 undergraduate research spaces, three wet bench research labs, and much more. This will advance the science-related majors on campus and will accommodate for new experiences and expanded research.

Explained in the FAQ section on the UWRF website, "the state of Wisconsin has provided $111.73 of the $116.73 million needed to complete SciTech. Alumni entrepreneurs Jeff and Kristi Cernohous, ’93, have generously presented a $1 million lead gift in support of the project and UWRF will work to raise the remaining funding through the Campaign to Support SciTech."

With the construction coming to a close, the goals for the new SciTech building are to foster relationships with STEM businesses and allow for more student innovation and research.

"SciTech isn’t about a building. It’s about providing immersive high-impact learning experiences and building limitless productive and collaborative opportunities for students, faculty and the regional business community," the University of Wisconsin-River Falls website stated.