Over 400 people attended the official dedication and ribbon-cutting of the new Centennial Engineering Center on Sunday, September 14, 2008. Visitors heard about the history of the new facility, the highlights of the building, and how it was funded. They went on tours of spacious new labs, viewed classrooms, and learned about the School's innovative research in biomedical engineering, water resources, sustainability, and transportation. But the most dramatic moment came when a student-built robot named Figaro (after the Barber of Seville) cut the ribbon at the end of the program.

Several large display monitors showed live video feed of Figaro cutting the ribbon at the building entrance while the audience was seated in the auditorium, in the the Commons, and in the portico area. Then Figaro, his robot partner Rosina, and the student team walked down the hallway and into the auditorium.

School of Engineering Dean Joseph L. Cecchi was the emcee. "The Centennial Engineering Center will enable us to serve students in engineering and computer science by giving them the hands-on experiences that are critical for the 21st century,” said Dean Cecchi. "It is designed to increase the School's capacity for innovation, multidisciplinary research, developing patents, creating new businesses, and economic growth." Speakers included Gerald May, former UNM president; architect Van Gilbert; Reed Dassenbrock, NM Cabinet Secretary for Higher Education; David Harris, UNM EVP for Finance and UNM CFO; Ashley Fate, ASUNM President; New Mexico legislators Larry Larranaga and Diane Snyder; and UNM School of Engineering donor Brian Burnett.

The four-story, 147,500 square foot building is the new home of the Civil Engineering Department, the Center for Biomedical Engineering, Engineering Student Services, the Dean’s Office, and an undergraduate lab for the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Department. In the Civil Engineering hydraulics lab, visitors saw water rush down a 40' flume that UNM civil engineers use to model the effectiveness of Albuquerque's flood control channels. In the environmental labs, they saw state-of-the-art equipment and learned how UNM researchers are working to make water safe for the environment and safe to drink. In the structures lab and New Mexico's firt full-scale Structural Health Monitoring lab, demos showed tests with new blast tolerant structural composites developed by UNM faculty using nanotechnology.

Visitors on the Center for Biomedical Engineering lab tours heard about innovative research collaborations, including smart materials to help repair the skin of burn victims, pioneering work in the root cause of Alzheimer's disease, and polymeric scaffolds to enable bone growth in a new, rapid and very controlled fashion.

Tours were also given of the Undergraduate lab for Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, where student conduct practical experiments ranging from the fundamentals of mass, momentum and heat transport to thermodynamics and kinetics. In the new Engineering Student Services areas, visitors met with advisors and saw various computer labs, student lounges, and areas for study groups and student organization offices.

Energy Efficiency
The Centennial Engineering Center was designed by Van H. Gilbert, Architect PC of Albuquerque in collaboration with Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson & Abbott of Boston. A contemporary flair was given to the John Gaw Meem Spanish Pueblo Revival style, which features sloped surfaces, prominent entries, deeply recessed windows, and an open air courtyard. Energy savings elements include high performance double glazed glass, day lighting provided in the majority of spaces, special controls that increase energy efficiency in lab areas with once-through air, recycled materials incorporated into the steel and concrete structure, multi-level switching for lights, and exterior solar shading. Outside lighting complies with NM night sky provisions. The Center is a new stop on the university shuttle bus route and has special provisions for bicycles.

Six new large-screen displays enabled the auditorium audience to view the program. Additional seating with live video feed accommodated crowds in the Robert J. Stamm Commons and portico area.	Speakers at the dedication took to the stage to celebrate the grand opening.	The student-built robot, Figaro, had the honors of cutting the ribbon.	The team of students who built Figaro and Rosino: Electrical and Computer Engineering students Tony Liu, Nicola Bezzo, Julie Welch, Yang Song, Ivana Palunko, and ME student Francisco Rodriguez.
Chemical and Nuclear Engineering research engineer Geoff Courtin showed SOE alum John Farris some of the equipment in the ChNE Undergraduate Units Lab.	ChNE graduate student Adrianne Lucero discussed her poster presentation in one of the Center for Biomedical Engineering labs.	NM Representative Larry Larranaga cut the cake while SOE Dean Joseph Cecchi looked on.	The Bob Stamm Room was a popular spot to meet new and old friends.

The Civil Engineering Department

Offering degrees in civil engineering, construction engineering, and construction management, the CE Department supports the community and the nation through research activities approaching $3 million/year in water resources, sustainability, transportation and structural engineering. Several labs were open to the public during the dedication, including:

Environmental lab -- Rooms 2015 to 2026 (second floor, north wing)
Water is essential for life but scarce and especially precious in the desert southwest.  But poor quality often harms the environment or limits human use.  In this lab visitors saw how environmental engineering professors Howe, Schuler, and Thomson are using state-of-the-art equipment and techniques to find and treat the causes of contamination and make water safe for the environment and safe to drink. Major research areas include:

• Reverse osmosis membrane can make pure drinking water from salty groundwater, wastewater, or other poor sources, but can be expensive and inefficient.  Dr. Howe and his students are finding ways to prevent membrane fouling and eliminate waste streams from this process.

• High arsenic restricts many groundwaters in New Mexico and the southwest from being used for drinking water.  Dr. Thomson and his students have developed tests to rapidly evaluate ways for removing arsenic from water by adsorption.

• Most people try to avoid bacteria, but environmental engineers have long recognized their ability to degrade harmful substances.  Dr. Schuler and his students are applying the latest molecular tools and genetic analyses to understand how microbial degradation works and develop new biotechnologies for wastewater purification.
• Microbial biofilms are everywhere, but usually cause problems. CE’s environmental engineering researchers are working to engineer biofilms for useful functions, like removing estrogens and pharmaceuticals from wastewater.

Structures Lab – At New Mexico’s first full scale Structural Health Monitoring laboratory, UNM civil engineers can test new blast tolerant structural composites developed by UNM faculty using nanotechnology. Visitors saw a demo of concrete post-tensioning for long-term deformation monitoring and will observe how earthquakes can be simulated using new state-of-the-art equipment.

The Center for Biomedical Engineering

CBME is dedicated to the creation of materials, devices and knowledge for the advancement of health care and biomedicine and is leading an effort to establish the state’s only PhD and MS programs in biomedical engineering. Lab tours at the dedication of the new building enabled visitors to learn more about the CBME's innovative research and collaborations.

• To repair the skin of burn victims, it's pretty easy to grow sheets of new skin cells in the lab – but they are hard to pull off. Visitors heard how Professor Heather Canavan's smart materials lift off as easily as a Post-It.
• How can bone be re-grown after injury or disease? Graduate student Ulises Martinez discussed his work with polymeric scaffolds, which enable bone growth in a new, rapid and very controlled fashion.
• Professor Eva Chi, recruited to UNM just this summer from the prestigious University of Chicago, talked about her pioneering work in the root cause of Alzheimer's disease. 
• Vistors saw howProfessor Gabriel Lopez makes high-tech beads that are not only astonishingly beautiful, but extremely important for medicine of the future.
• Like the pitching machine in a batting cage, Professor Steven Graves hurls one cell after another down a perfectly defined path.  Visitors learned how his inventive approach helps us understand how the human body works.
• Erin Fenton just started her third year at UNM and third year as an undergraduate research assistant.  She discussed the huge variety of biomedical test strips she has built with a $5,000 machine and why someday this will improve medicine in New Mexico.

Engineering Student Services

The Engineering Student Services office administers a number of specialized programs including advisement, tutoring and scholarships to help students make a successful transition from high school to college.  ESS also coordinates summer programs and outreach. Visitors went on a tour of the new space in ESS, with student lounges for tutoring and study groups, computer labs and student organization offices.

Chemical and Nuclear Engineering labs

Although the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Department is primarily in Farris Engineering Building, the department’s undergraduate lab is in the CEC. In the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Undergraduate Units Operations, students test what they have learned in their theory classes with practical experiments ranging from the fundamentals of mass, momentum and heat transport to thermodynamics and kinetics.

Media Coverage

"New and improved: UNM’s innovative engineering building is a place to collaborate, create and get down to business," New Mexico Business Weekly article, 8-15-08

"UNM Opens New Engineering Center," Albuquerque Journal article by Martin Salazar, 9-15-08

Construction begins on Centennial Engineering Center

10-19-06 -- Construction began today on the $42 million, 147,500 sq. ft. Centennial Engineering Center. The building will house classrooms, student services, and teaching and research laboratories; it will be completed in Fall 2008.

Construction as of November 3, 2006

November 8, 2006

November 21, 2006

February, 2007

March, 2007

December, 2007

April, 2008

The Groundbreaking Ceremony, September 13, 2006

(Article from the New Mexico Daily Lobo, written by Jeremy Hunt)

Student Sarah Shannon was excited to see a dirt lot where Wagner Hall once stood. "Everything was rusty. Everything was just really awful in there," said Shannon, a civil engineering graduate student. "So, I think it's a good thing we're getting a new building."

More than 150 people gathered north of the Mechanical Engineering Building on Wednesday to celebrate the groundbreaking for the Centennial Engineering Center.

"Some feel this day was long in coming, but the important thing is it's here," said Joseph Cecchi, dean of the School of Engineering. Cecchi said the building should be occupied by the fall 2008 semester and is a milestone for the engineering school and the University. The $48 million project is the largest in UNM main campus history, he said.

David Harris, UNM's acting president, spoke at the ceremony. "When you talk about collaboration, this project and the way it's been funded is a perfect case study," he said. Private fundraising, several years of legislative appropriations and a student-funded bond issue paid for the building, he said. "We all need to recognize that this building in this location is going to represent the University into the future in a really superlative way," he said.

The building will be 145,000 square feet and will face University Boulevard near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, said Van Gilbert, the architect who designed Centennial Engineering Center.

Gilbert spoke at the ceremony. The building was modeled within the John Gaw Meem guidelines that characterize UNM, he said. It will have stepped facades, prominent entries, deeply recessed windows, sloped walls and a reddish-tan stucco exterior, he said.

"We have an extremely unique campus, the most unique campus in the United States - in the world actually," he said.

Centennial Engineering Center will replace Wagner Hall, which was primarily used for civil engineering, said Tamara Williams, director of marketing for the school of engineering.

The building will have more space, new technology and state-of-the-art research labs, she said.

Students, faculty and staff had to move their offices, labs and experiments from Wagner Hall to Tapy Hall.

The temporary home for engineering students has poor working conditions because of limited space and boarded windows, but it will be worth it once the new building is completed, Shannon said.

Cecchi agreed. "This building is really about the students," Cecchi said.

Centennial Engineering Center Kickoff Held April 5

5/5/06 -- A former astronaut and a Texas university president were the featured speakers at a kick off reception, Wednesday, April 5, for the UNM Centennial Engineering Center fundraising campaign. The School of Engineering hosted the event to gather support for construction of Centennial Engineering Center, as well as increase support for students, faculty and programs.

The campaign kick off event featured a talk by Sid Guttierrez, former Columbia Space Shuttle astronaut, currently manager of the Physical Sciences Department at Sandia National Laboratories. Also speaking were Dr. Charles Jennett, former president of Texas A&M International University and a professor and chairman of civil engineering at Syracuse University.

Scheduled for construction later this year, the new Centennial Engineering Center will be the springboard for next generation learning and increased research and economic growth.

The School is committed to providing superb education to students and preparing them to address water treatment and supply, alternative energy sources, disease diagnosis and treatment, and other issues that affect the way we live and work.

School of Engineering
Office of the Dean
Farris Engineering Center 107 - MSC01 1140
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
Phone: (505) 277-5521 Fax: (505) 277-1422
email: soe@unm.edu