Marine science and mechatronics engineering students and faculty at California State University Monterey Bay are getting a state-of-the-art new building.
Construction on the 20,000-square-foot Edward “Ted” Taylor Science and Engineering Building launched last week with a celebration that included Bruce Taylor, head of Taylor Farms, whose philanthropy contributed to the project. Ted Taylor was Bruce’s father.
“My father had a long, special history throughout his lifetime in the Salinas Valley and was a pioneer in the agriculture industry,” Bruce Taylor said in a statement. “By supporting Cal State Monterey Bay’s Science and Engineering programs we are not only honoring his memory but also investing in the future of our community, nurturing talent and supporting innovation.”
Additional funding for the $38.5 million project came from Roberta "Bertie" Bialek Elliott, the Packard Foundation, federal funding and CSUMB’s own reserves, the university said. It is expected to open in June 2027.
In addition to the academic programs, the building will also house the new offices of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, one of a network of “underwater parks” managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
John Armor, director of NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, traveled to the campus for the project launch last week. He told KAZU having the staff at CSUMB will help the sanctuary advance several of its priorities, which include ocean conservation with a changing climate, diversifying the staff and audience for the sanctuary programs, and increasing and improving partnerships with Native groups that have managed area lands and waters for millenia.
“Those are things that we're doing at the national level, across the National Marine Sanctuary system, and are really being embraced right here in the Monterey area,” he said, adding that CSUMB’s status as a minority-serving institution will help NOAA better “understand how the conservation efforts that we're making are relevant to that population that CSUMB serves.”
South of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, NOAA is working on another proposed one, the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. Armor said a final proposal, incorporating many of the thousands of public comments, should out this fall. He’s looking forward to adding San Luis Obispo County to the existing geography of sanctuaries along much of California’s central coast and said the Chumash Heritage sanctuary will also expand “our engagement with tribes and indigenous peoples and [give us] the opportunity to really look at, and really work across, the multiple tribes and indigenous groups that are in that area, and come up with collaborative solutions to some of the most vexing problems that are facing ocean conservation today.”
Editor's note: this story has been updated as of Tuesday, Aug. 27, to reflect corrected information from CSUMB. One of the donations for the new building was attributed to the Berkshire Foundation in a university press release, but should have said the donation came from Roberta "Bertie" Bialek Elliott. CSUMB said it regrets the error.
