Dan Johnson
... and there’s plenty more to come The lower level and first floor of Engineering Hall are buzzing with teaching and research activity, but that’s just the beginning of the story. Floors 2, 3 and 4 are due for occupancy by August 2012. And the completion of Engineering Hall is still ahead. Upper floors While providing more settings for “engineering on display,” floors 2 through 4 will bring to fruition the building’s distinctive “house concept.” Laboratories, faculty offices, classrooms and student study nodes will bring together people and resources from multiple disciplines — engineering as well as science, nursing, business and communication — to promote solutions
to global challenges (and to familiarize students with the role of engineers as real-world problem-solvers). Floor 2 is dedicated to the design, fabrication, characterization and evaluation of sensors, sensor controls and nanoscale devices. Sensors are crucial to the design and maintenance of all engineering systems — everything from the check-engine light in a car to blood-sugar monitors to potential new uses as early warning devices to protect against terrorist threats. Floor 3 will provide resources and opportunities for students, faculty, clinicians and industry partners to address human performance and health care. Laboratories devoted to areas such as medical imaging, bioinstrumentation and embedded system designs will allow teams of investigators from multiple disciplines to study form and function of the human body using state-of-the art technologies and to design diagnostic, therapeutic and assistive technologies. Floor 4 is dedicated to water and water quality — an enormous worldwide challenge in the 21st century. Solutions involve water engineering, allocation of scarce water resources and other issues vital to sustaining life. This will be the home of the college’s Center for Water Quality. Engineering Hall — more to be done The College of Engineering’s physical needs won’t be met, explains Bishop, until Engineering Hall is completed, bringing the entire college under one roof. “Though we are well on our way, we have much yet to do,” he says. “Marquette is large enough to offer multiple engineering disciplines and small enough to allow for us all to be in a single building where those important intellectual collisions can occur — and where our students can thrive.” To supplement Engineering Hall’s current 115,000 square feet and reach the 250,000 square feet needed to house the entire college, an additional 135,000-squarefoot section of the building is planned at an estimated cost of $50 million. If you wish to support the reimagining and reinvention of engineering education that is occurring in Engineering Hall at Marquette’s College of Engineering, please contact Carrie O’Connor at 414.288.4707 or carrie.oconnor@marquette.edu.