Jason Delgado
Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College are among the institutions to find a place in the state budget in the 2021 Legislative Session’s closing days.
The Tallahassee-based institutions are among the nearly 200 budget items on the “sprinkle list,” a term used by Capitol insiders to refer to last-minute appropriations.
Under the budget, lawmakers are awarding more than $18.4 million toward construction of FSU’s Interdisciplinary Research Commercialization Building.
According to the university, the building will foster a “collaborative environment” for research when it opens.
“The new spaces will include research labs, imaging/characterization labs, clean rooms, collaboration, conference and administrative spaces,” the university website says. “The facility will accommodate researchers in the disciplines of bio-medical engineering, chemistry, chemical engineering, condensed matter physics, and device prototyping.”
The 114,000-square-foot space will cost $88 million in construction, equipment, professional fees and more. According to the website, the research building will be on the Southwest Campus in Tallahassee.
Tallahassee Community College, meanwhile, will receive more than $194,000 to expand its nursing program. The money comes after a request by Democratic state Rep. Ramon Alexander.
According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, healthcare employment is projected to climb 7% between 2019 and 2029.
“Healthcare occupations are projected to add more jobs than any of the other occupational groups,” the federal agency says. “This projected growth is mainly due to an aging population, leading to greater demand for healthcare services.”
Moreover, Florida ranks fourth in the nation for the highest nurse employment. The Sunshine State trails only California, Texas and New York.
In all, nearly 176,000 registered nurse openings are projected each year, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
“Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire,” the bureau adds.
