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Trailer demolition signals start of new era
By ELLEN GOLDBAUM
Contributing Editor
Twenty years after it was constructed to serve the needs of UB’s growing engineering programs, the Engineering Trailer Complex between Ketter and Jarvis halls on the North Campus will be demolished tomorrow to make way for a new School of Engineering and Applied Sciences building.
The demolition of the 10 trailers will clear the way for the groundbreaking next spring for a new building that will become the sixth in the engineering school complex. It will be the first new engineering building at UB in more than 20 years.
“In years to come, the new building on this site will attract outstanding researchers and aspiring students who will produce valuable new research and innovative technologies, as well as a highly skilled workforce for this region,” said Harvey G. Stenger Jr., dean of the school. “The demolition of these trailers symbolizes an important first step toward helping us to achieve our ambitious goals.”
The new building will modernize programs and facilities for the departments of Computer Science and Engineering and Electrical Engineering. The planned 130,000-square-foot structure will boast a “clean room” for intricate work with nanodevices, a “cybertorium” with sophisticated communications devices and smart technology, and flexible research labs, classrooms and meeting areas for interdisciplinary work.
The facility will allow UB Engineering to use its current buildings to expand existing programs and grow into new, high-demand fields like biomedical engineering.
UB Engineering is in critical need of additional research and teaching space, with planned increases of 30 percent in both faculty and enrollment by the time the new building is scheduled to open in fall 2011.
These goals are aligned with the UB 2020 strategic plan, which aims to grow UB by 40 percent between now and the year 2020 and to invest in areas of strategic strengths, such as information and computing technology and integrated nano-structured systems, in which UB Engineering will play a lead role.
New York state has embraced the engineering school’s vision by providing $49.6 million toward the $73 million needed to build the structure. UB Engineering currently is engaged in a fund-raising effort to generate the remaining $23 million in private funds.