Spectrum - Volume 20 Issue 07 October 9, 1997 - New Engineering Building opens

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including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

New Engineering Building opens

By Liz Crumbley

Spectrum Volume 20 Issue 07 - October 9, 1997

Residents are moving in a steady stream into the New Engineering Building, located beside Whittemore Hall on Perry Street. The first occupants were the Center for Intelligent Materials Science and Structures, and the Mobile and Portable Radio Research Group. The Environmental Engineering Division and much of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department (ISE) are in the process of moving in the building, which also will house laboratories and faculty members from the electrical and mechanical engineering departments.
The new building adds 71,260 square feet of much-needed space for research and instruction in the College of Engineering and significantly reduces the college's space deficit as determined by criteria set by the Virginia State Council on Higher Education. Much of the funding for the building was provided by a higher-education bond referendum passed by Virginia voters in 1993.
Faculty members and students will use the new lab facilities to conduct research and instruction in a variety of areas including modal analysis, structural acoustics, systems engineering, ergonomics, robotics, environmental engineering, space communications, and computer engineering. The building also houses a 60-seat classroom equipped for multi-media presentations.
Mike Deisenroth, ISE assistant department head and coordinator for occupation of the building, said a few building modifications could delay full occupancy until early 1998. Dan Ludwig, former head of the Engineering Fundamentals Division, coordinated plans for the new building from its inception until his retirement in August.