Building the Future

To accommodate steadily increasing student enrollment and the faculty who continue to join our outstanding team, a new engineering and science building is being constructed. Scheduled for completion in 2011, this $66 million facility will provide additional space for faculty, students and research programs.

This new building is designed to LEED standards and will boast numerous green features that integrate seamlessly into the collaborative and multifunctional space.

Green initiatives

The main entrance, rotunda and bridge utilize in-floor radiant geothermal heating.

Skylights offer the same insulation as a regular roof but allow for natural light to flood hallways, laboratories and shared spaces. Offices are located around the perimeter of the building and utilize light shelves.

Labs are outfitted with chilled beams - a radiant cooling system that is installed in the ceiling and uses water, rather than air, to remove heat caused by lights, computers and other equipment.

A two-story photovoltaic wall of solar panels will convert sunlight to electricity.

The green roof insulates the building, helping to lower heating costs in the winter and cooling costs in the summer.

Flexible and collaborative laboratories

The new building uses a model that focuses on shared lab spaces to encourage and facilitate collaboration.

A large laboratory - a web lab for instance - will house the majority of resources and equipment. Directly off this shared space are several smaller rooms/labs that will be used by a few researchers for specialized work or unique equipment. And a second large shared computational work space will be used by all researchers in the lab as well.

Bench heights are adjustable to accommodate equipment and users.

Data features

A touch screen interface will hang in the main entrance and can be used to locate offices or learn about the building management systems such as the photovoltaic wall or the geothermal heating.

There are approximately 25,000 data drops (Internet ports) in the new Engineering and Science Building - more than any other building on campus.

Multifunctional spaces

Conference rooms are located immediately off departments' main offices and are visible in the hallway through a wall of windows allowing for the space to be used as a showcase for student and faculty work or to be closed off by window treatments for privacy.

Conference rooms are networked so a presentation shown on a projector in one room can be viewed simultaneously in another.

 A multipurpose room can hold 150 people, or movable walls can transform it into two smaller spaces for 75 people each.