Infrastructure
Building for Today and Tomorrow
Investments in new facilities on North Campus have been a major contributor to Michigan Engineering’s leadership among peer institutions. But ongoing advances in technology demand continual improvements in and additions to buildings, laboratories and equipment. Progress & Promise: 150th Anniversary Campaign has made these advances possible.
Carl A. Gerstacker Building
The Carl A. Gerstacker Building is home to a wide variety of research programs in which investigators in multiple laboratories are delving into areas such as high-tech ultrasonic imaging, nano- and micro-molecular biotechnology, bio-fluid mechanics, the development of an artificial lung and tissue engineering.
Ann and Robert H. Lurie Biomedical Engineering Building
The Biomedical Engineering (BME) department occupies two state-of-the-art research and educational facilities on North Campus, which have allowed BME to grow rapidly, with new faculty, students and degree programs. Established as a department only in 1996, BME now hosts one of the largest graduate programs in the nation.
Completed in 2006, the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Biomedical Engineering Building features research laboratories, a variety of teaching labs, classrooms, conference rooms and faculty offices.
- Read about the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Biomedical Building
Undergraduate Degree in Biomedical Engineering
The BME expansion has made it possible for the department to create a degree for undergraduate students who enjoy math, physics and chemistry, but who also have a keen interest in biology and medicine.
Robert H. Lurie Nanofabrication Facility
The Robert H. Lurie Nanofabrication Facility (LNF) is an example of what vision can do, not only for the College of Engineering but also for high-tech companies, large and small, and the economy throughout southeastern Michigan. A $40-million facelift included a 37,500 square-foot addition to the previous facility. The expansion was funded in large part by a gift from Ann Lurie (LLD Hon. ’03), wife of the late Robert Lurie (BSE IOE ’64, MSE ’66).
There are labs similar to the LNF in the Midwest, but none as advanced. Research groups from government, small companies and universities often don’t have the resources that the LNF can offer – but they can use the facility’s processes and equipment for a nominal fee.
Everyone benefits – not only the LNF and the researchers who use the equipment, but also the vendors who donate equipment, because many of the researchers and companies who use the equipment in the LNF are potential customers who might buy the very same equipment for use in another location in the future. Furthermore, the LNF is motivating companies – especially small companies – and Michigan Engineering researchers to take the risks that are often necessary for discovery and entrepreneurial ventures.
- Read more about the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility
Computer Science and Engineering Building
Multiple gifts to Progress & Promise: 150th Anniversary Campaign made possible the Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) Building, a state-of-the-art instructional and research facility.
The building, which opened in 2006, is creating opportunities to advance
current and recent projects such as:
- Computer infrastructures to create secure information systems
- “Smart cards” that tighten the security on computing systems
- Techniques to detect and identify attacks on computer networks
- Fault-checking capabilities that increase chip performance in computer processors and shorten the concept-to-market cycle
- Memory systems that retain their speed and tolerate system crashes
CSE accommodates 56 tenure-track faculty and 11 new laboratories. It also provides a single home for Michigan Engineering’s Computer Science and Engineering division, which had been spread throughout three buildings. The new environment is flexible, open and dynamic, designed to encourage frequent interaction that promotes the exchange of ideas and problem-solving.
- Read more about the Computer Science and Engineering Building
