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Rose-Hulman Announces Plans for Student Innovation Center
July 25, 2011
Student innovation projects and hands-on engineering competition
teams will have a new home at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
with the addition of the Student Innovation Center. The
building is currently under construction on campus.
The new 16,200-square-foot building will be the site for
Rose-Hulman's Advanced Transportation Systems (ATS) program and
other student competition teams. The current ATS automotive
laboratory, located on Indiana 46 across from Rose-Hulman's South
Campus, is being lost to make way for a new highway project.
With the Student Innovation Center, the ATS program will gain a
new purpose-built work environment featuring advanced technologies
and flexible work spaces. It will provide much-needed space
for student projects, and consolidate project space which has been
divided between Rose-Hulman's South Campus and the John T. Myers
Center for Technological Research with Industry. The open
workspace will also allow for the sharing of ideas, tools and
assistance between teams.
"Our competition teams will no longer be scattered around
campus. Bringing them all under one roof will enhance
collaboration and allow more students to get involved in these
valuable, hands-on experiences," President Matt Branam said.
Zac Chambers, faculty co-advisor for Rose-Hulman's EcoCAR
sustainable vehicle development project, believes the SIC will
increase student participation in innovative projects and,
therefore, improve teams' performances in national engineering
design competitions.
"Having EcoCAR and other projects able to call campus 'home'
will improve student recruitment efforts, team cohesiveness and
work flow," said Chambers. "Students will be able to play a
role in project development throughout their college careers.
And, for the EcoCAR team, students will no longer have to make the
15-minute drive to the South Campus ATS Laboratory to work on the
project. They can walk over to the Student Innovation Center
and work on the project throughout the day and night."
The new SIC, which will open in mid-September, will be located
just west of the Facilities Operation Center in the northeast
corner of campus.
Moving student project teams out of the John T. Myers Center
will also free up space to add seven new state-of-the-art
classrooms. The renovation will address the current shortage
of optimally sized rooms, featuring seating for 15 to 25
students.
The ATS program includes the EcoCAR2 project along with the
efficient vehicles team, human powered vehicle team, formula
motorsports team, Design-Build-Fly aircraft team and Team Rose
Motorsports Club.
For updated info and images, read the
Innovation Building Blog.