Faculty began moving into the near-completed Engineering Education and Research Building (EERB) Wednesday.
Slated to open to students in September 2019, the building is a $105 million dollar venture for the University of Wyoming. The idea behind the new facility is to create a collaborative space for not only engineering but the entire STEM program.
“It’s a fantastic facility basically it elevates what we can do to the next level,” said Michael Pishko, dean of College of Engineering and Applied Science. “If we want to have a good engineering program we need to have the facilities to go along with it.”
The EERB was the first investment in the engineering facilities since the 1980s, bringing a much-needed update to entice students considering the newer facilities at other schools.
“It represents state of the art facilities, so they’ll have facilities that will be as good or better when they look at competitor schools,” Pishko said. “The makerspace will be very exciting for students because it lets them get hands-on, so it will get students excited about our STEM programs and get them excited at an early age.”
Ideas for features to include in the EERB were developed by visiting campuses of leading engineering schools such as Princeton and Georgia Tech.
A central component is a space designed around collaboration, such as connecting those researching artificial intelligence with those researching transportation to encourage joint projects.
“These are all recurring themes and recurring initiatives that occur in the best programs in the nation,” Pishko said.
Other research areas that will be collaborating in the EERB are the water program, civil and chemical engineering, computer science and work with the Wyoming Department of Transportation. Faculty from across the University, such as those in geological and biological sciences, will also have access to instruments in the new building.
Students have expressed their excitement about the new facility. Sophomore Cade Lamoureux feels that the updating the building will make a big difference, citing the “boxed in rooms down concrete hallways” of the current engineering building. Lamoureux also said that for him the interactive aspects of the building are better suited to his learning style than a traditional classroom.
Sophomore Christian Bitzas also looks forward to the new building.
“I think it’s amazing,” Bitzas said. “I think the abilities to collaborate are really good. they will bring new learning opportunities and be really efficient.”
