La chooses design firm for $14M coastal research center at Nicholls State University 2 months 2 days 20 hours ago Tuesday, February 09 2021 Feb 9, 2021 February 09, 2021 7:49 AM February 09, 2021 in News Source: Associated Press Photo: Google THIBODAUX, La. (AP) — Louisiana has hired a firm to design a $14.5 million coastal research center at Nicholls State University. Thibodaux-based Duplantis Design Group will design the project, and the building should be put out to bid by the end of the year, the school and the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority said in a news release Monday. “When Nicholls was founded in 1948, we were 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the Gulf Coast. Today, we are 24 miles (39 kilometers) away,” university President Jay Clune said. “We are the closest Louisiana university to the Gulf, so we have more at stake in this fight to save our coast.”