Research facility in Glencoe

The Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe has broken ground on a building designed to serve as an international center for plant conservation research. The 36,000-square-foot Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science Center is scheduled to be completed in fall 2009. Garden officials said it will feature labs and teaching space for more than 200 scientists, land managers, students and research staff. It will also be home to a unique doctoral program in plant biology and conservation that the garden will conduct with Northwestern University. Sophia Siskel is president and CEO of the Chicago Botanic Garden. She said the center will help researchers understand the most serious threats to plants and ecosystems -- as well as help create and sustain the healthy ecosystems plants need to survive.