VIDEO: Middle Tennessee State Breaks Ground On New $74.8M Applied Engineering Building
Thu June 29, 2023 - Southeast Edition Middle Tennessee State University
The Department of Engineering Technology and School of Concrete and Construction Management at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) will be next-door neighbors on the east side of the Murfreesboro campus in 2025 after sharing space in the Voorhies Engineering Technology Building for almost three decades.
The school held a groundbreaking ceremony June 20 to signal the start of construction on its new $74.8 million Applied Engineering Building in front of a crowd of MTSU officials and special guests, along with several state representatives. Led by University President Sidney A. McPhee, the event was moved inside due to rainy weather.
Scheduled to open in either the summer or fall of 2025, the nearly 90,000-sq.-ft. engineering building will be the new home to the school's renowned Mechatronics Engineering program and other Engineering Technology concentrations, providing students with the space, equipment and education to prepare for ever-changing careers.
Representatives from Wold Architects & Engineers of Brentwood, Tenn., and Denark Construction, based in Knoxville, were on hand for the event as well, side-by-side with MTSU students, faculty and staff.
(L-R): Frances McDonald; alumnus Donald McDonald; alumnus and MTSU Board of Trustees Chairman Steve Smith; MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee; and Ken Currie, chair of the Department of Engineering Technology, perform the ceremonial shoveling of dirt during the Applied Engineering Building groundbreaking. (MTSU photo by J. Intintoli)
MTSU Investing Millions into Science Facilities
In his remarks to the gathering, McPhee said the opening of the new facility in 2025 "will be the finishing touch to what we've named the Science Corridor of Innovation that began in 2014 with the opening of our $147 million Science Building, the single largest investment by the state of Tennessee for an academic facility."
The new construction follows the opening last October of MTSU's $40.1 million School of Concrete and Construction Management Building, a 54,000-sq.-ft. facility that serves as an integrated and experiential learning laboratory.
"MTSU is an institution on the rise and is no longer the state's best-kept secret in higher education," McPhee said. "We take pride in preparing ready-to-work graduates who become engaged citizens. Our academic offerings have grown not only in quantity but also in quality to better serve the needs of the Middle Tennessee region and support the state's economic growth and development."
Once completed, the new structure is "going to be fabulous," noted Ken Currie, chair of the Engineering Technology department, adding that features in the new Applied Engineering Building will include a Makerspace area, and new robotics and automation labs.
He said he has "challenged the faculty to think differently about space and equipment in the new building and with the help from our generous donors, we have created a vision and plan to attract the next generation of engineers and technologists.
"This building signifies a bridge across generations that is represented in the lives of current students and recent graduates — a bridge that is being forged by an active advisory board that is supporting state-of-the-art technology to ensure students can navigate a changing technological landscape," Currie added.
Both he and McPhee said nearly $1.2 million in new equipment has been gifted to or bought for MTSU that will eventually go into the new building. Currie explained that the new building and donated equipment like the Dexcom/Automation Nth FlexBases, the Gould Mechatronics Robotics lab, and the Co-Bot Workplace Development Center, a pair of robots on order, "will start to bridge the gap between industry and education."
College of Basic and Applied Sciences Dean Greg Van Patten told the audience that the new building "represents a new phase in the life of the department — a progression into a new era of possibilities for our faculty and students. It will completely alter how the faculty in the Engineering Technology Department will teach and how our students will learn.
"Its welcoming spaces will increase students' interactions with each other and with faculty outside of class," he continued. "The cutting-edge facilities and new equipment will provide opportunities for our faculty to pursue research projects that are not possible at MTSU today. Those benefits will, in turn, help us continue to attract and retain the very top-talented students and faculty."
An Engineering Student's Viewpoint
Introduced by Currie, rising MTSU senior Gibson Young will graduate well before the completion of the new building, but said "it will be exciting for all future engineering students to use the technology and resources to adapt to the constantly changing engineering world."
An electromechanical engineering major from Murfreesboro, Young noted the current "technology we have is very present and viable, and hasn't hindered my education."
Taking a summer class in technical project management and soft skills to help students become better project managers, Young is in his second internship with Qubits Energy, with locations in Murfreesboro and Colombia, South America.
He described the internships as opportunities that are "helping me [stay] a little ahead of the curve," while Currie added that his student is "learning firsthand the difference between textbook and real life as an engineering technologist."
