WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. -- West Liberty University will build a multimillion-dollar science center and expand programs to bring and keep science scholars in the Ohio Valley.

Tuesday, science professors and local doctors met for the university's Science Summit to help develop programs planned for the $20 million science center. The university is expecting nearly $13 million from the state and is awaiting word from the governor's office on the status of that funding.

The group discussed how to get students interested in the sciences then employ them at local doctors' offices and material science plants.

Dr. Robert Kreisberg, dean of West Liberty's College Of Sciences, said the building will be the start of a cutting-edge science program that will be one of a kind in West Virginia. Kreisberg said not only is the science center a major advancement for the university, but it will also impact the Ohio Valley.

"The College Of Sciences is also interested in economic growth and helping the economy, so what can we come up with (is) that students will either get jobs at businesses that are here or start new businesses with the science background," he said.

One local surgeon who attended the summit said the demand for health care is growing in the area but the workforce is not growing to match. He said, for example, the need for physicians' assistants will play directly into the programs West Liberty University is planning for the new center to prepare students for those types of science-based careers.