We did it! CEE caps off successful Laboratory Renovations Campaign!

CEE’s laboratories were in a sorry state when it decided to move ahead in early 2003, to embark on a major $7.1 million fundraising initiative to upgrade them. Largely without improvement since they were built in the late 1950’s, it was time to upgrade them and invest in the infrastructure upon which the whole education program is based. Today, 4+ years later, the School is celebrating a successful fundraising effort and more importantly upgraded facilities!

The vision was not just a “bricks and mortar” project but to create a unique learning environment that enhanced the curriculum. Today’s program emphasizes an active, problem-solving, teamwork, hand-on approach. To accomplish that it was time to bring together the classroom and laboratory spaces. and greatly improving their learning experience.

Through this integration of classroom and laboratory, the barriers that separate research and real-world problem solving start to fade and our labs have once again become exciting places to be involved. We have evidence that it is already making a difference. On a recent week in the Bovay Lab Complex, the first and largest lab to be renovated, student teams were engaged in working on their concrete-canoe and steel-bridge fabrications and students collaborating with a village in Nicaragua were actively running research tests on their solar cooker prototype. Lastly, faculty were preparing for another NSF-funded earthquake-simulation test.

Thanks to the generosity of hundreds of alumni and friends our newly-renovated spaces have added a new vitality to our nationally-ranked and internationally-recognized program. This significant investment has created state-of-the-art facilities critical to keeping us at the forefront of our field today and into the future.

Thanks to you we did it!