MTSU officials opened a new building for the second week in a row on Tuesday morning, cutting the ribbon on the nearly $75 million Applied Engineering Building (AEB).
“As you can imagine, a project of this magnitude doesn’t just occur; it takes commitment and an effort of many people to make it happen,” MTSU President Sydney McPhee said.
This building wouldn’t have been possible without many people, but especially Donald and Frances McDonald – the backbone of this program – and the Gould family, McPhee said.
Richard Gould, former Engineering Technology chair, led the way for the growth of the MTSU mechatronics department for nearly two decades.
“It was my mother’s generosity and her belief in my father’s legacy that helped make the mechatronics lab a reality,” Jimmy Gould said, son of Richard and Jean Gould. “Dad certainly laid the groundwork for the department of Engineering Technology to expand to its present reach and the vision to embrace the mechatronics program before so many better, other known institutions. He didn’t have the idea of the lab; mom was introduced to the idea and ran with it.”
The building focuses on multiple lab spaces with Dexcom and Automation Nth equipment, the Gould Mechatronics Robotics Lab and the Co-Bot Workplace Development Center.
The Co-Bots in the automation lab are the cornerstone of the building, with the Co-Bots able to work alongside people, which is planned to be used as a development center for local industries, Ken Currie, chair of the engineering technology department, said.
The AEB provides the Engineering Technology department of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences a central location to grow the program. Engineering Technology was formerly located in the Voorhies Engineering Technology, Davis Science and Midgett buildings on campus.
“We were separated between two buildings, and we didn’t have any space in either to have students collaborate and work together,” Currie said.
All the amazing state-of-the-art technology and equipment in the building have been accumulating over the past few years, but the department never had the space to set everything up, Currie said.
Along with the multiple lab spaces, the AEB will give students the opportunity to have a space where they can collaborate on projects inside and out of the classroom.
Nearly all junior and senior-level classes will be held within the AEB, with the third floor comprised of student workrooms and tutoring spaces that the department didn’t have previously, Currie said.
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