Ellenzweig, Cambridge, Mass., has promoted three new principals: Neil Cahalane, AIA, MRIAI; Steve Mahler, AIA, LEED AP; and Dominick Roveto, AIA. Ellenzweig, an architecture and planning firm, has a strong market emphasis in science and research facilities and was a winner of a 2007 High Honors award in the R&D Magazine Laboratory of the Year competition for the design of two research buildings at the Woods Hole (Mass.) Oceanographic Institution. Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., a multi-branch firm, has acquired Carter & Burgess, Fort Worth, Texas. Jacobs president/CEO Craig Martin characterized the addition as a “strategic step” in achieving the goal of building a leadership position in the global infrastructure and facilities markets. Both Jacobs and Carter & Burgess have significant capabilities in lab engineering work; Jacobs also owns Jacobs Consultancy (formerly GPR Planners), a lab planning consulting firm. BNIM Architects, Kansas City, Mo., has opened a new office in Des Moines, Iowa. Rod Kruse, FAIA, a BNIM principal, will manage the office. BNIM’s recent science projects include the Fayez S. Sarofim Research Building at the Univ. of Texas (Houston) Health Science Center. Cannon Design has appointed David Ordorica, AIA, and Edward Mello, AIA, LEED AP, as associate VPs in its Buffalo, N.Y., office. Craig Booth, AIA, LEED AP, has been appointed associate principal in the Los Angeles office. Joseph O’Neill, AIA, has been hired as technical leader for the Yazdani Studio of Cannon Design, also based in Los Angeles. Cannon provides architecture, interiors, engineering, and planning services for multiple markets, including science and technology. Harley Ellis Devereaux has hired Michael R. Somin, AIA, as an associate for the Science & Research sector in its San Diego office. Somin, a longtime designer at Earl Walls Associates, San Diego, will boost Harley Ellis’ West Coast capabilities in science facility design. A/E firm Perkins+Will has announced its support of the 2030 Challenge, a call to move toward designing buildings that have reduced emissions profiles, achieving carbon neutrality by the year 2030. The firm’s new Sustainable Design Initiative strategic plan will form as a roadmap in guiding the firm. Efforts will include reducing P+W’s own environmental footprint substantially, as well as aggressively implementing green strategies in its design projects. Perkins+ Will provides design services for diverse building types, including a major presence in the science/technology sector. PSA-Dewberry, Chicago, a building services firm, has named Randy Gibson, SE, PE, as president. Gibson was previously COO for the company. PSA-Dewberry is the building services affiliate of the A/E firm Dewberry, which is headquartered in Fairfax, Va. Recent PSA-Dewberry science projects include the Univ. of Oklahoma Biomedical Research Center Phase II in Oklahoma City. Loebl Schlossman & Hackl, Chicago, has hired architects Robin Mahaffey and David Hoffman, and architectural designers Dana Moore, Scott Klimek, So Young Lee, and Wesley Urschel. A/E firm Loebl Schlossman & Hackl has a regional and international design practice, emphasizing healthcare, higher education, and commercial mixed-use projects. Stantec Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, has acquired Murphy Hilgers Architects Inc., Toronto, and Moore Paterson Architects Inc., Victoria, British Columbia. The company has also appointed Rick Drake as practice leader for architecture in the firm’s seven-state U.S. West region. Drake has extensive experience in lab design and project management, and will also lead business development efforts in the lab market for the San Francisco office. Stantec, a diversified A/E and planning firm, has an active science practice, especially in the area of bio/pharmaceuticals. VWR International LLC, West Chester, Pa., has acquired Omnilabo International B.V., a Netherlands-based lab supply distributor emphasizing clinical and lab consumables. The acquisition is intended to bolster VWR’s Dutch and European distribution operations. Terms were not disclosed. VWR offers diversified lab products from a wide range of manufacturers. SCP Science, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, has reached an agreement to purchase Conostan, an oil-based standards manufacturing operation, from ConocoPhillips. Based in Ponca City, Okla., Conostan makes oil-based analytical standards used for calibration or verification of instruments for analysis of organic fluids. The standards manufacturing facility will relocate to an expanded manufacturing facility SCP already operates in Baie D’Urfé, Canada. Kirksey, Houston, has rehired Brian P. Richard, AIA, NCARB, as the science team and technology leader for the firm. Richard will oversee projects ranging from health science labs to oil services technology facilities. Validus DS Systems, Brookfield, Conn., has closed $10 million in a first round of venture funding led by Oak Hill Venture Partners. The funding will be used to accelerate commercial deployment of Validus’ fully integrated DC power infrastructure, which is designed to deliver scalable, reliable, and modular solutions for mission-critical data centers by improving energy efficiency up to 40%.