Printer-friendly version
The 85,000 square-foot facility houses collaborative spaces for future engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs and is designed to foster new technologies and scientific discoveries.
Source: SDSU News Center
January 16, 2018 (San Diego) — San Diego State University is kicking off a new era of scientific and engineering collaboration with the new Engineering and Interdisciplinary Sciences (EIS) Complex, which formally opened its doors to the community today.
"As we dedicate this new Engineering and Interdisciplinary Sciences Complex, we celebrate the insights and innovations it will inspire," said SDSU President Sally Roush. "We celebrate a new chapter in university history and what this complex will add to our 120-year tradition of academic excellence and public service."
The 85,000-square-foot, $90 million EIS Complex is designed to encourage cooperative research. The complex features 17 lab spaces and research facilities – doubling the amount of existing learning space for engineering students.
Fostering collaboration
The building is home to a state-of-art fabrication studio with laser cutters, 3D printers and milling machines; the Brain Imaging Center, which houses SDSU’s first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, for researchers studying Alzheimer’s disease and autism; as well as research spaces dedicated to exploring the next generation of renewable energy sources, medical devices and wireless networks.
The complex also provides space for student clubs and organizations including the SDSU Rocket Project and Aztec Baja SAE auto racing club.
Attracting top talent
The presence of these new labs and classroom spaces, together with innovative research programs and cutting-edge equipment, will help the university recruit new superstar faculty members and top-tier undergraduate and graduate students.
“The EIS Complex will coalesce many of our entrepreneurial strengths within a shared space, and that will be a phenomenal synergizer for all of our different programs,” said Stephen Welter, vice president for research and dean of Graduate Affairs.
This constellation of scientific, engineering and business acumen will spur new alliances with local, national and international industry partners, said Stanley Maloy, associate vice president of research and innovation.
“In talking with people from industry who’ve seen the new complex, I’ve learned they think it’s a great space,” said Maloy. “They know that the future of many fields of research—from biomedicine to energy to materials engineering—spans disciplines, and they are excited to see that SDSU is putting collaboration and entrepreneurship front and center.”
Building the future
The university partnered with design-build experts Clark Construction and AC Martin architects to fast-track the project within a three-year time frame from concept to completion.
While the building reflects the university’s legacy California Mission Revival style on the exterior, it offers state-of-the-art features on the inside. These include mobile furniture to assemble quick meetings; glass walls to keep an eye on what others are working on; communal whiteboards in the hallways for spur-of-the-moment brainstorming; and a quad that encourages informal meetings between researchers and students from different disciplines.
Continuing its commitment to environmental stewardship, SDSU incorporated numerous “green” elements into the construction. The EIS Complex is expected to achieve LEED Silver Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council in the coming months and will join a list of more than half a dozen buildings on SDSU’s 288-acre campus that have achieved this distinction.
Recent comments