The College of Engineering dedicated the new Electrical and Computer Engineering Building: Phase I on October 2, 2008. The first of two phases of construction, the new $16.5 million facility provides 23,000 square feet of state-of-the-art classrooms and research and teaching laboratories furnished with the latest equipment and technology for students and faculty.
A robot designed and built by Alexander Stoytchev, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, cut the ribbon at the ceremony, demonstrating some of the technology that will be explored in the new facility.
Phase II of construction will add an additional 33,000 square feet to the building and be home for advising and senior design, as well as offices for staff, faculty, and graduate students. Phase II will cost an estimated $22.3 million, with groundbreaking anticipated in 2010.
The building project is funded by private donors and state funds. Private support was made during Campaign Iowa State: With Pride and Purpose, the university’s $800 million fundraising effort launched in October 2007. New classrooms and laboratories for teaching and research allow Iowa State’s electrical and computer engineering program to recruit and retain top students and faculty, positioning the program as one of the best in the nation.