Texas A&M System to invest $150 million in new campus

​​​COLLEGE STATION – ​​​The Texas A&M University System is investing $150 million in a new R&D campus that will also offer a new path toward a college degree.

RELLIS Campus (from an acronym for the Texas Aggies’ core values of respect, excellence, leadership, loyalty, integrity, and selfless service) will be built at the 2,000-acre Riverside Campus on SH 47 and SH 21. It will initially include seven new buildings and test beds for private sector research.

The focus will include robotics, driverless and connected vehicles (for more on that, click here), advanced manufacturing, large-scale testing, as well as smart power grids and water systems.

A $38 million education center has been proposed to offer four-year degrees to students not admitted to Texas A&M University through affiliations with other A&M System universities. Chancellor John Sharp estimated as many as 10,000 students eventually could be studying at the RELLIS Gateway Center, as the education center would be called.

Vice Chancellor and Dean of Engineering Dr. M. Katherine Banks said all of the $150 million is committed, either from state appropriations or gifts from donors.

Construction on the first building could begin as early as this September.