The University of Missouri System Board of Curators voted on several items that will affect Missouri S&T during the board’s meetings Dec. 7-8 in St. Louis.

Here are some highlights from the meetings:

• The Curators on Thursday approved a new $6.5 million lab. The Advanced Construction and Materials Laboratory (ACML) will expand the High-bay Structures Laboratory in Butler-Carlton Civil Engineering Hall to provide 16,000 square feet of research space for developing and testing new construction materials and methods. Get more details.
• Also on Thursday, the board passed new rules allowing for reduced operations over winter break (which means time off for many employees Dec. 26-Dec. 31) as well as a shorter waiting period to take advantage of reduced tuition for family members. The board also approved a shared leave program that will allow staff to contribute and borrow from a leave pool in the event of a catastrophic illness or other emergency. Get more details.
• University of Missouri System President Mun Choi on Friday shared highlights from each campus. For our campus, he reflected on the Missouri S&T Mars Rover Design Team winning this year’s international championship and S&T’s new University Transportation Center.
• Choi congratulated the six faculty members within the UM System who were recently named American Association for the Advancement of Science fellows. Dr. Francisca Oboh-Ikuenobe, professor and head of geology and geophysics at S&T, is one of the AAAS fellows. The other five are MU faculty. Get more details.