Construction continues to change face of campus

The Marcus Nanotechnology Building (MNB) will become the latest addition to Tech's roster of buildings once it is finished. However, it isn't the only construction site on campus, as the College of Management has begun renovating the plaza at West Peachtree and 5th Street, and Tech will soon break ground on the Innovative Learning Resources Center (ILRC).

Aimed primarily at aiding freshmen and sophomores, the ILRC will be located adjacent to library, where the parking lot bordering Skiles Walkway currently sits.

"We wanted to create a building to serve as the academic home for freshmen and sophomores," said Anderson Smith, senior vice provost for Undergraduate Studies and Academic Affairs.

Some of the elements placed within the ILRC will be all the freshmen and sophomore science labs, group meeting rooms for students to reserve and academic support.

"This will be like a one stop shop for all academic support services," Smith said.

Some of these support services may include central advising, advising for students pursuing paths like pre-med and pre-law, tutoring, communication support and undergraduate research advising.

Although the ILRC will focus on freshmen and sophomores, all students will be able to use the services provided by the facility.

It will incorporate the types of open studying areas found in the Library East Commons and breakout rooms, all intended for group usage.

"[It is] a place where you can just go to between classes, to form a study group or hold a team project meeting," Smith said.

A 500 seat classroom and a 300 seat classroom will also be housed in the ILRC. Classrooms this large do not exist anywhere at Tech and may possibly serve as locations to host lecturers and speakers.

At six stories and with 230,000 square feet of space, the ILRC is seen as an extension of the ideas, like active learning and educational discovery, used in the redesign of the Library East and West Commons.

"The East Commons and West Commons were experiments to try out the spaces to be used in the ILRC," Smith said.

A committee made up of faculty and students is forming that will help to define the details of the ILRC's design.

"We don't want a building designed by just the architects. I want it designed by students and faculty. [For instance, the committee will] inform the architects of what a four person breakout room should look like," Smith said.

A final design team will be selected by this December, and ground breaking is planned for Spring 2008.

Coming in October 2008, the new MNB, located between Atlantic Drive and State Street, is set to open.

"[The MNB] will be one of the major focal points for nanotechnology research on campus.... [It] is a natural outgrowth of what we have been doing [at the Microelectronics Research Center (MIRC)]," said Kevin Martin, associate director of the MIRC.

Research spaces in the MNB will not only be open to Tech researchers, but also to other institutions and companies. The research being conducted will be driven by the user and the nanotechnology research will be multidisciplinary.

"We want to give the researchers the most freedom possible," Martin said.

One of the aims of the new facility is to be more open to different types of research than an industry type research facility.

The MNB will have four levels of labs, a nano-fabrication cleanroom and biological cleanroom, the latter being a feature that few other universities possess.

"The [MNB] will have a very large clean room space, three and a half times greater than the current largest clean room on [Tech]," said Bob Rose, assistant director of operations of the MIRC.

Of the 30,000 square feet dedicated to clean room space, fifty percent of it will be "shelled out," meaning it will not be dedicated to either electronics or biological space. In the future, the "shelled out" space could be dedicated to either nano-fabrication or biological research or used for something entirely different.

"During the programming phase, the faculty were asked what they wanted to see in the [MNB]. [This] input from the faculty is one sort of input that was used in the building's planning," Martin said.

The role the MIRC will play with the new facility will be to maintain the equipment, offer advice and train those wanting to use the different tools. Not only can faculty and graduate students receive training, but undergraduate students will also have a chance to use the laboratory tools.

"There is really no fundamental barrier for [undergraduate students] to do what graduate students or [postdoctoral researchers] are doing," Martin said.

"There are very few universities that allow the hands-on experience that Tech can. We generally find that our graduates hit the ground running. Undergraduate initiative and creativity have allowed us to do great things," Rose said.

The College of Management began work on redesigning their plaza on Oct. 22, and it is slated to be completed in early March.

"It will include new pavements, walls, outdoor furnishings, lighting and landscaping. Expanded foot traffic and the removal of drive-through traffic will create a more pedestrian-friendly experience," said Brad Dixon, assistant director of communications for the College of Management.

The redesigned plaza will be renamed the Acuity Brands Plaza to honor Acuity Brands' seven figure commitment to support the College of Management, according to a College of Management press release.

"We are excited to have Acuity Brands not only as a key supporter of the college, but also as a neighbor and partner in the dynamic and innovative community that Midtown has become," said Steve Salbu, dean of the College of Management.

"We are very pleased to provide this support to [Tech's] College of Management, and equally important, to have them as partners as new technologies and business practices emerge will result in the profitable growth of Acuity Brands," said Vernon Nagel, CEO of Acuity Brands.