Thomas More College aims to inspire young children into science careers with a new $600,000 Ohio River Biology Field Station STEM Outreach Center.

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Thomas More’s 50-year-old field station is housed in a former Ohio River lock and dam on 25 acres off Ky. 8 in southern Campbell County.

Construction on the new STEM Outreach Center with capacity for 100 students started in July.

Grades K-12 and college will be given hands-on STEM experiences touching and studying aquatic creatures large and small, Biology Field Station Director Chris Lorentz said.

“It literally immerses students in the natural environment,” Lorentz said.

Biology may not sound interesting to a second-grader until they touch a frog or fish in second grade. By high school, students are formulating careers. Students with direct science experiences are able to envision more career opportunities, he said.

“It first generates the excitement and then they start to approach and understand the scientific method,” Lorentz said.

Thomas More will double its research productivity by moving visiting STEM classes from schools out of research labs, he said.

Researchers study everything from water quality and pollution to the health of fish populations.

“We just got a currently endangered species to reproduce, which is really amazing,” Lorentz said.

Private donations paid for the STEM Outreach Center. The R.C. Durr Foundation donated $425,000. The George A. and Dolores E. Renaker Charitable Foundation donated $175,000.