Hu currently serves as chair of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and associate director of the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning at the University of Florida鈥檚 College of Design, Construction and Planning. She joined the University of Florida in 2022 as a professor in Urban and Regional Planning following her time as professor and chair of the Urban Planning Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed articles in leading urban planning and transportation journals and has served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on research projects totaling over $5.2 million in funding, supported by the National Science Foundation and other major agencies.

Hu holds a doctorate in policy, planning and development and a master鈥檚 degree in planning from the University of Southern California as well as a bachelor鈥檚 degree in planning from Nanjing University. She also brings valuable practical experience from her previous roles as a planner with the Southern California Association of Governments and the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design.

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SAN ANTONIO 鈥� Construction has commenced on Texas鈥� first Educare school. Located on the Texas A&M San Antonio Campus, the project marks a massive stride for childcare accessibility, education and early childhood development studies in the area.听听

The $22 million, 26,000-square-foot building will be devoted to teaching and caring for children aged six months to five years. Educare, a nationwide provider of early childhood education, aims to provide quality early childhood education that doubles as accessible childcare for families representing a range of economic backgrounds. The school will also serve as a hands-on teaching resource for Texas A&M San Antonio students who are studying child development and business.听听

鈥淓ducare will be the gold standard for childcare and childhood education,鈥� said Salvador Hector Ochoa, Texas A&M San Antonio president, in a statement. 鈥淭he one-of-a-kind facility also represents our commitment to enhancing the region鈥檚 birth-to-college educational ecosystem, as it enables students and community members to access childcare and higher education while working full-time, strengthening the University and the city鈥檚 workforce.鈥澨�听

The facility, which broke ground last month for a slated spring 2026 opening, is an initiative led by the Texas A&M College of Education & Human Development, with operation led by the university鈥檚 early childhood experts. College students will use the environment as a teaching model to study early childhood learning and understand best practices. On the administration side, business students will gain experience working through tasks such as state licensing regulations and balancing budgets.听

A home away from home for 200 students鈥攊ncluding infants, toddlers and students in preschool and kindergarten鈥攖he facility offers flexible classrooms for teaching, outdoor space for activities and areas dedicated to strengthening family-school resources.听

A mix of grass, astroturf and resilient pavement surfaces with walking paths will be integrated into the playground, which features climbing structures and slides that were designed with accessibility in mind. A small stage for plays and small-group activities is one of numerous activity areas included in the plans. These spaces for engagement aim to inspire artistic creation where children can use commonplace objects to engage in self-expression and dramatic play. For increased safety, both play areas and classrooms are shielded from outsider view.听

Designed by Austin, Texas-based Plufger Architects, the exterior of the facility aims to blend in with the surrounding Texas A&M Campus, reflecting San Antonio鈥檚 historic architecture, which uses brick and San Saba sandstone, a natural stone derived from quarries in San Saba, Texas. Building accents such as archways, canopies and a covered communal plaza will feed directly into play areas, seamlessly blending work and play .听

鈥淲e wanted the building鈥檚 form, materials and layout to honor the local context while providing a supportive environment for Educare鈥檚 innovative educational mission,鈥� said Chris Lammers, AIA, higher education practice director at Pfluger Architects, in a statement.听听

Funding for the first-of-its-kind facility is delivered through various sources including $4.4 million from philanthropy, $9.6 million from the city of San Antonio and $7.9 million from Texas A&M. The facility鈥檚 construction plans were first approved in November 2024 as part of the Texas A&M Regents sweeping approval of over $500 million in campus construction and improvement plans.听

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BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas 鈥� The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents has approved multiple campus construction and improvement projects that total over half-a-billion dollars. The record-setting vote reflects the A&M System鈥檚 legislative success in 2023 when a record $1.19 billion in new spending, including $775 million in new initiatives, was approved by the state, according to a statement by the university system.听

Among the approved projects is a $200 million, four-story research center that will focus on space exploration, specifically assisting in missions to the moon and to Mars. The new building, the Texas A&M University Space Institute, will sit on a 32-acre site and will house classrooms and research laboratories devoted to robots and vehicles as well as offices, classrooms and auditoriums. Construction is slated to begin in January. 听

Additionally, the regents approved the construction of a $10 million Hypersonic Wind Tunnel that is poised to become the largest academic facility of its kind in the nation. Large-scale aerodynamic testing, ranging from Mach 5 to 9, will be conducted at the new facility and will go hand in hand with research at the Ballistics Aero-optics and Materials (BAM) Range and the Detonation Research Test Facility. Construction on the wind tunnel will begin in December. 听

Construction will also begin in December on a $21.69 million, state-of-the-art Educare San Antonio facility, which will serve children ages six weeks old through kindergarten. The project will mark Texas鈥檚 first Educare school, and the facility will join a national network of 25 schools dedicated to early childhood education. The lab-school will also provide hands-on experience for students at Texas A&M-San Antonio.听

An additional $25.3 million in approved funds will go towards an 86-acre site purposed for a Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service facility and will eventually serve the program鈥檚 headquarters. The facility will offer training and technical assistance in fire and rescue, infrastructure and safety, law enforcement, economic and workforce development, cybersecurity and homeland security. The site will also include a driving track, an urban simulation grid, skills pad and classrooms.听

鈥淭his agenda not only underscores the great needs of the state and nation,鈥� said Chancellor John Sharp in a statement. 鈥淚t is only possible thanks to the foresight and commitment of our state leaders.鈥�听

Other funding approved will go towards private and public athletic renovations, a new veterinary research complex, a $7.4 million student dining hall and $74.9 million in utility and HVAC upgrades on College Station campus.听

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BUFFALO, N.Y.鈥� The School of Dental Medicine at the University of Buffalo (UB) has received a $7.3 million grant from the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs of the National Institute of Health for development of the new 4,000-square-foot Microbiome Center Gnotobiotic Animal Research Facility, supporting research that may provide insights into diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer, osteoporosis and heart disease.听

The prestigious research grant will support oral microbiome research to gain insights into systemic diseases, bacterial pathogenesis and more. The new research center is poised to make a significant impact on the community as the only oral microbiome research facility of its kind in the region, with the nearest similar center located over 300 miles away in Cleveland.听

鈥淩eceiving an NIH grant of this magnitude speaks to UB鈥檚 reputation as one of the top research universities in the country and also to the dental school鈥檚 commitment to cutting-edge research,鈥� said Marcelo Araujo, dean of the School of Dental Medicine, in a statement. 鈥淚t will enable us to work closely with other disciplines across the university, as well as our community partners and other universities.鈥�听

Animal subjects within the research facility, like mice, will be raised in a controlled, gnotobiotic environment where microbial exposure is managed for more reliable research into bacterial issues and health. UB is planning the facility in consultation with architectural and engineering firms with extensive experience in biomedical laboratory design and green design principles, according to a statement by the University.听

The campus鈥� original Microbiome Center, originally built in 2012, has been home to various clinical trials and has celebrated numerous in-lab findings regarding periodontal infections. The new facility will build upon past efforts and allow students and researchers to continue collaborating with on- and off-campus medicinal research teams to help place UB in the top 25 of public research universities in the nation, according to Keith Kirkwood, senior associate dean for research and UB professor.听

Construction on the project is expected to begin in 2025.听

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