Also, new research funds attracted by the university because it has new, modern facilities, generates an ongoing economic benefit. Every dollar spent on research in Alaska generates an addition 70 cents of economic activity, McDowell Group said in its report.

Rendering courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks

A new 110,000-square-foot biological sciences facility at UAF is one of the university's top priorities this year.

The university is asking the Legislature for an $85 million capital appropriation in the fiscal year 2010 state budget. The rest of the money would be raised through the sale of bonds, said Brian Rogers, University of Alaska Fairbanks chancellor.

University officials are pointing out to legislators that not only will expanded laboratories enhance student learning and attract additional federal research at the Interior campus, but about 10 percent to 15 percent of the project's economic effects, a total of about $20 million, will be felt in Southcentral Alaska, primarily Anchorage.

The proposed building would contain four to five research labs, nine teaching labs, a 90-seat lecture hall, 35,000 square feet of teaching space and 65,000 square feet devoted to research. The $105 million price tag includes $11 million for utilities and $94 million for construction.

"We need this new building badly. The laboratories we're using now in our biological sciences programs are crowded and the fixtures were the same that were used when I was a student at UAF in 1970," said Rogers.

McDowell Group, a Juneau-based consulting firm, did an analysis of the economic effects of construction on the local Fairbanks economy as well as elsewhere in the state.

The $105 million spent on construction would create another $48 million in indirect and induced spending in the local Fairbanks economy, McDowell Group said. This includes the purchases of construction materials and supplies and the economic effects of the spending of payroll to the 385 works that would be employed in construction.

Labor income is estimated at $72 million, or about $18 million per year, over an expected four-year construction schedule. The average construction wage would be the equal of $64,000 per year on a full-time basis. Additional payroll generated indirectly by the project is estimated at $15.5 million.

Additional impacts trickle down to Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the Kenai Peninsula, the McDowell Group found. The project would create an additional 55 construction-related jobs and $8.8 million in payroll, in Southcentral Alaska, mostly among support contractors and suppliers.

It isn't surprising that a large Fairbanks construction project would have economic impacts in Southcentral Alaska, McDowell Group said in the report.

"Anchorage is the commercial hub for all of Alaska. Construction companies, engineering firms, wholesalers and retailers and many other kinds of businesses are headquartered in Anchorage. Further, large volumes of freight destined for the Interior move through the Port of Anchorage," the report said.

Because the Anchorage area is home to about half of Alaska's population, it is also home to a large pool of skilled construction labor, McDowell Group said.

Construction of the new biological sciences building would free up space in buildings now occupied by the biological sciences faculty and students. This would allow other UAF programs to expand by removing space-related constraints.

"There are a lot of other economic benefits associated with increased research funding, including increased enrollment in the biological sciences programs. For each research dollar brought into Alaska from the federal government or other sources, the state experiences $1.70 in total direct and indirect economic activity," Rogers said.

Each new research team formed at the university generates $850,000 to $1 million in new economic activity.

While the university has long been a center of research in physical sciences, in climate change in northern latitudes, for example, it has also develop a reputation for research in biological fields, Rogers said.

Last year the Institute of Arctic Biology at UAF attracted $20 million in outside research funding. That's up from $18.7 million the year before and $6.7 million in 2000, he said.

Research projects in the biological sciences that are currently underway, and which also have a direct benefit to Alaskans, include research on hibernation science and its relation to heart attack, stroke and brain injury recovery, on avian flu and sudden infant death syndrome, among others.