The University of North Dakota has turned a triple play in the area of scientific research.

Then again, for a school noted for its success in ice hockey, the term “hat trick” might be more appropriate.

With the completion of three new research facilities on campus this year, the University quickly has added nearly 100,000 square feet ($21.5 million worth) of laboratory, commercialization and office space to its research arsenal to tackle questions of disease prevention, national defense, energy exploration and human behavior.

The National Center for Hydrogen Technology (NCHT), the newest part of the sprawling Energy & Environmental Research Center, already is up and running, solving domestic energy problems.  The Northern Plains Behavioral Research Center (NPBRC), next to the College of Nursing, is providing much-needed new digs for nursing and psychology researchers on campus.  And finally, the cornerstone to the University’s research partner, the UND Research Foundation, REAC 1 (Research Enterprise And Commercialization), is nearing completion on UND’s western edge, setting the stage for state-of-the-art labs and commercial space for school researchers and their private sector partners.

Over the next 8 articles, UND Discovery will take an in-depth look at these new facilities, highlighting the “groundbreaking research” that will be performed within their walls and talking to the main players who helped add them to the University’s already substantial research community.