University plans for new, modern buildings
By SCOTT BRODFUEHRER
News Writer
In an effort to have facilities of a caliber equal to the faculty, the University plans to construct a new multidisciplinary engineering learning and research facility to open in four years.
"We have a very distinguished faculty, but our current facilities are far less distinguished," said Frank Incropera, Dean of Engineering. "Our facilities lag seriously behind those at other schools and this kind of space is imperative to retain and attract students and faculty."
The building will contain a commons area on the first floor, a large learning center, a nanotechnology laboratory and a materials synthesis laboratory, each occupying about one-third of the building's space, projected to be approximately the same size as the current law school.
According Incropera, the new building will emphasize interactive learning using hands-on projects and testing, working in teams and working on projects that incorporate the curriculum of multiple engineering schools.
In addition to serving a lab and learning facility, the goal is that the building's commons area will be inviting and facilitate discussion.
"We want to make it a building people want to be in and will stimulate interactions. We hope the facility will encourage communication, community and collaboration," said Incropera.
The learning center will occupy the rest of the space on the first floor, and at 16,000 sq. ft. will be almost four times larger than the current learning center that opened this year in Cushing Hall to support the new Introduction to Engineering program for first year students.
"The learning center will continue to service the needs of first year students and with the new building, we would not be surprised if the number of first year students increases from 300 to 400," said Incropera.
The new Learning Center will also be used for multidisciplinary activities that require collaboration between curriculum of more than one department in the college of engineering.
A large grant from the General Electric foundation will support the development of these multidisciplinary modules to be used in the new facility. Work on the design of the modules will begin now so that when the new building opens there will be programs ready to use the facility.
When the current learning center in Cushing Hall is vacated, it is earmarked for use by the Computer Science and Engineering Department, and most likely will be used for a Virtual Reality Laboratory.
"The space would be ideal for a major virtual reality facility available to anyone on campus doing research," Incropera said.
The laboratories to be contained on the upper floors of the building require special equipment not available in Cushing and Fitzpatrick, the current Engineering halls.
"When Fitzpatrick was built 30 years ago, there was little understanding of the needs of certain research today," Incropera said.
Nanotechnology research involves working with electronics much smaller than the size of a human hair and therefore requires ultra-clean space. The nanotechnology laboratory will contain 7,000-sq. ft. of Class 100 space for this purpose. Incropera said the equipment to achieve this extremely high standard of air quality is one of the major costs of the new building, but "you can't afford to have contaminants to muck up the works."
The materials research laboratory will require installing chemical hoods, a device designed to prevent toxic fumes from entering the building's airspace, and other sophisticated equipment.
"We reached a point in Fitzpatrick where we can't install another fume hood. We were sucking too much air out of the building and can't get more in," Incropera said.
The location of the building has not yet been decided, but the department hopes it will be built in close proximity to the current buildings so it is easy to access.
"It is very important that the building be situated in close proximity to Fitzpatrick and Cushing so it is easy for professors to walk from their office to the Learning Center and commons area," Incropera said.
The building will be funded by a combination of federal government funding, which is earmarked for the research facilities, and donations solicited by the development office from alumni and friends with an interest in the future of engineering at Notre Dame.
All News Stories for Friday, April 27, 2001
