San Diego State University- Imperial Valley celebrated the grand opening of the state-of-the-art Sciences and Engineering Laboratories in Brawley.

Speaking at the ribbon cutting. SDSU President Adela de la Torre said, " estimates report there are 18 million metric tons of lithium available in the region, or enough to produce over 375 million electric vehicle batteries, worth an estimated $540 billion. Imperial Valley could be an international model for efficient, sustainable, and locally empowering development at scale. But to achieve that vision, we need talent, and there is no better place to develop that talent then right here in the Valley". The three-year project is the result of $80 million in state funding.