Plans and construction are underway for the Nicholls State University Coastal Center to feature research spaces for coastal restoration and exhibits to educate the public about land loss.

Ratcliff Construction and the Duplantis Design Group (DDG) have been working hard in constructing and designing Nicholls State University’s Coastal Center, which is planned to be open to the public by the start of 2025. The building is making progress, now having some interior walls and second-floor slabs installed. 

According to Laci Melancon, the Executing Director of the project, the Coastal Center is to be organized into research, conference, and educational sections. The research space will be utilized for coastal restoration projects, the conference space will be used to host events, and the educational space will provide offices for visiting researchers and feature an exhibit space for the public to view.

ConocoPhillips recently made a $150,000 donation to the Coastal Center, according to a Nicholls news article. This donation is to be used for the development of the exhibit space within the center. 

The exhibition will feature both educational and creative elements in order to inform visitors and students about coastal restoration. The space will be split into twelve parts, each taking the form of an island, while the spaces in between exhibits will look like a water current. Melancon wishes to include some technical elements into the exhibits to keep information updated.

“We want to be able to provide people with the latest and greatest information on what research is being done and what solutions are related to the research,” Melancon said.

According to the Nicholls news article, many organizations are planning to collaborate with the Coastal Center upon its completion such as the Bayou Region Incubator, which the article says will “help create jobs and small businesses focused on needs of bayou communities.” The center will also allow coastal researchers from Balanced Media Technology, Ltd., to use its facilities to, as the article states, “solve some of our most pressing coastal problems.”

On the need for collaboration with other organizations, Melancon said, “The land loss affects us all at the end of the day […]. So how can we all sit at the same table and work towards the bigger goal of finding applied solutions that can be utilized to save our coast?”