The interdisciplinary facility was opened in October 2018 and boldly reflects the college’s liberal arts legacy, further empowering its faculty to educate future leaders in science and other professions as they prepare for the careers of the future.

The Innovation and Discovery Center is leading the way in how a new generation of liberal arts undergraduates pursue scientific knowledge. At Ursinus College, we recognize that we must teach to careers that haven’t been invented yet, which is why the IDC infuses policy, entrepreneurship and science with a new approach.

This ambitious, once-in-a-generation facility fosters creative and innovative thinking, which has always been a hallmark of the Ursinus experience.

Designed with the “science of the future” in mind, the Innovation and Discovery Center houses Ursinus’s Parlee Center for Science and the Common Good, which provides opportunities for students to become civically engaged scientific leaders, and the U-Imagine Center for Integrative and Entrepreneurial Studies, which encourages students to exercise innovation, leadership, imagination, and creativity.

Collaborative spaces among multiple academic disciplines further cultivate the concept of a shared, common experience, a reality of the modern world. The IDC incorporates 30-seat and 50-seat technology-enhanced active learning classrooms; flexible laboratories that are easily configurable to suit specific needs of a research project; and open meeting and work spaces that bring together students and faculty from every discipline. 

The 42,500-square-foot facility physically connects Pfahler and Thomas halls.