As Iowa State University students and faculty begin research in the Biorenewables Research Laboratory, many of the instruments and other equipment they are using are funded by national corporations.

The facility, the newest building on Iowa State’s campus, will be formally dedicated today at 3 p.m.

State appropriations paid for the $32 million building, and a number of partnerships with the private sector have helped furnish it. Among the bigger names are Cargill Inc., ConocoPhillips and Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM). During a media tour on Wednesday, officials said other businesses, some local and some national or international, have shown interest in forming partnerships with researchers in the facility.

“They all have research development goals and objectives. Sometimes it makes sense for them to partner with faculty like our faculty here rather than to hire somebody,” said Jill Euken, program director of the university’s Bioeconomy Institute. “Really, graduate students are the most cost-effective way to get research done.”

In exchange for research services, businesses will help fund lab equipment. Brent Shanks, a professor of chemical and biological engineering at ISU, said on average two or three companies a month will come in and check out the facility to see how they can utilize it.

The lab is unique in a couple of ways.

For one, the building itself was funded entirely by the state, without any outside fundraising.

For another, the facility houses researchers from several departments. Unlike most academic buildings on campus, there is no departmental focus. Students and professors from different departments come together to do research based on the projects they are working on, allowing interdepartmental work to be done more smoothly and efficiently, officials said.

Phase two of the project will add a connected agricultural and biosystems engineering building and atrium, but the completion date is unknown. That portion of the project will require fundraising and private donations, which will determine the timetable.

Today’s formal dedication of the Biorenewables Research Laboratory is open to the public.