MURFREESBORO (AP) - Two aging science buildings at Middle Tennessee State University will undergo renovations expected to be completed by spring 2017.

The Daily News Journal (http://on.dnj.com/1KkNEJb) reports that 76-year-old Wiser-Patten Science Hall and 47-year-old Davis Science Building will get updates and house the physics, astronomy and geology departments and provide lab space for anthropology and forensic-science programs.

The school says the project is expected to cost $20 million, some of which came from the budget for the new science building that opened at the Murfreesboro school last fall.

Bud Fischer, dean of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, says the decades-old buildings will be retrofitted to have classrooms designed specifically for their subjects.

The buildings will be closed during renovations. The three departments will operate out of other spaces until the project is complete.