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May 9, 2003

Purdue trustees OK nanotech center contract, 2 new buildings

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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue University Board of Trustees today (Friday, 5/9) approved hiring contractors to begin work on the Birck Nanotechnology Center and authorized financing and construction of two new buildings: the $47.7 million Millennium Engineering Building and the $25 million Biomedical Engineering Building.

The trustees also approved contracts for the third and fourth phases of renovations at the Heine Pharmacy Laboratory and improvements to the university's computer network system. A consultant was authorized to explore renovations at the Purdue Village. Financing and construction authority also was approved for a parking garage on the Calumet campus.

The board awarded the $45.5 million contract to Pepper Construction Co. of Indianapolis to build the nanotechnology center, which Purdue considers a centerpiece in its strategic initiative to expand its research programs and support economic growth in Indiana. The board also awarded a $1.9 million alternate to Pepper for fume hoods and casework, subject to the approval of the governor for an increase to the project budget.

The Birck Nanotechnology Center is one of five major centers planned for Purdue's Discovery Park, a state-of-the-art interdisciplinary teaching and research complex. Other facilities include the Bindley Bioscience Building, Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, an e-enterprise center and the Discovery Learning Center.

The revised $58.3 million total budget for the nanotechnology center will be funded with gifts of $47.6 million, $5.7 million in federal funds and a $5 million state appropriation of Build Indiana funds. Construction is scheduled to begin immediately and could be completed as early as July 2005.

Nanotechnology focuses on building minute devices and systems atom by atom. Its applications potentially will affect business, medical treatment, communication and other fields in everything from super-small computers, spacecraft and microscopic machines, to tiny life-saving medical devices and new materials.

The Millennium Engineering Building is a key component in the ongoing execution of the $400 million master facilities plan for the Schools of Engineering approved in 1999. Located at the corner of Northwestern and Stadium avenues, the multidisciplinary engineering facility will accommodate the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the School of Materials Engineering, Engineering Projects In Community Service (EPICS), Freshmen Engineering, minority and women in engineering, interdisciplinary engineering and other engineering programs.

Gift funds will cover $10 million of the cost for the 238,000-square-foot building. The state has authorized Purdue to issue bonds to cover the other $37.7 million.

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The Biomedical Engineering Building, an 81,750-square-foot building in Phase II of Discovery Park, will provide research labs and lab support, and faculty, staff, administrative and business offices. The facility will serve the newly designed undergraduate biomedical engineering program as well as the existing graduate program and research activities.

The facility will be funded by $12 million in gift funds, and the state has authorized Purdue to issue bonds to cover the remaining $13 million. No date for the start of construction has been set, and the university continues to raise funds for both buildings.

The trustees awarded Kettlehut Construction of Lafayette the construction contract for the final two phases of a plan to renovate space for laboratories and offices in the Heine Pharmacy Laboratory. The $3.6 million in renovations are the final two phases of a four-stage plan.

The National Institutes of Health are funding half of the renovations, with Purdue paying the other $1.8 million out of state appropriations. The NIH has contributed a total of more than $3 million to the renovations.

The project will update existing facilities to house NIH-funded research in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology. Existing space in the building will be gutted and new, state-of-the-art research laboratories, faculty and student offices, and analytical labs will be installed.

The project will finish renovations on the labs, which were originally built in 1969. In addition to replacing outdated equipment, the renovations also will improve ventilation and allow more people to work together in labs.

Purdue's trustees also approved the installation of a campuswide single-mode fiber upgrade to provide network redundancy, higher speed and more dependability for the West Lafayette campus' computer network.

"A plan has been created to take advantage of discounted equipment costs and develop an accelerated timetable for network upgrades," said Kenneth Burns, Purdue's executive vice president and treasurer. "This plan will shorten the planned implementation from a four-year period to approximately 18 months."

The upgrade will place additional interconnected network nodes in Lambert Fieldhouse, Lynn Hall and Earhart Residence Hall to provide back-up in case of any network failures. It also will provide extra lines for each of the buildings on campus, providing further dependability.

The $6.9 million project is expected to begin in September and be completed in the spring of 2005.

The board also took the first steps in exploring upgrades to Purdue Village. Ghafari Associates LLC, of Indianapolis, will provide architectural and engineering consultation to Purdue as the university plans to renovate apartments for married students and students with children. The apartments were built between 1956 and 1966. The renovations will affect 41 two-story apartment buildings with 16 apartments in each building.

The project, with an estimated budget of $30 million, will be designed to extend the life of the facility by another 20 to 30 years and will be phased in over seven years. Improvements will likely include external siding, replacement of floor tiles, bathroom renovations, and an upgrade of electrical services and lighting.

The renovations will affect the buildings that remain after the university removes more than half of the housing complex to make room for Discovery Park. The park will be built where part of Purdue Village stands on the southwest portion of campus.

The trustees approved the planning, finance and construction of a 1,000-car parking garage at the Purdue Calumet campus to accommodate enrollment growth. The $11.5 million garage will be funded through bonds.

NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: Renderings of the Birck Nanotechnology Center and Biomedical Engineering Building are available at ftp://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/bircknanotech.render.jpeg and ftp://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/biomedical.render.jpeg.

Writer: Matt Holsapple, (765) 494-2073, mholsapple@purdue.edu

Sources: Kenneth Burns, executive vice president and treasurer, (765) 494-9705, kpburns@purdue.edu

Wayne Kjonaas, vice president for physical facilities, (765) 494-8000, wwkjonaas@purdue.edu

PHOTO CAPTION:

The Birck Nanotechnology Center is one of five major centers planned for Purdue's Discovery Park. Construction is scheduled to begin immediately and could be completed as early as July 2005.

A publication-quality rendering is available at ftp://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/bircknanotech.render.jpeg.

PHOTO CAPTION:

The Biomedical Engineering Building, an 81,750-square-foot building in Phase II of Discovery Park, will provide research labs and lab support, and faculty, staff, administrative and business offices. The facility will serve the newly designed undergraduate biomedical engineering program as well as the existing graduate program and research activities.

A publication-quality rendering is available at ftp://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/biomedical.render.jpeg.

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu


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