Christie, Rutgers Break Ground For $115M Chemistry/Chemical Biology Complex

Gov. Chris Christie and Rutgers University President Robert Barchi joined with state officials Monday for the groundbreaking of an $115 million building that will house the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.

Christie, speaking at the event, said the state investing $2.3 billion in this year’s budget in our state colleges and universities. This, he said, is a significant investment. Almost 10 percent of the overall state budget will be put into our state colleges and universities, and "so those are things that don’t often get mentioned but are representative of not only my commitment."

"This is a stat I love to use. We just got it a couple weeks ago, that New Jersey is the fifth-smartest state in America. How about that? And that’s based on the fact that 35 percent of our residents have a four-year degree or better, and that is the thing that makes New Jersey competitive," he said.