Embrey Building dedicated
On Thursday, May 12, SMU held a groundbreaking ceremony to officially commence construction on the J. Lindsay Embrey Engineering Building. A $7.5 million donation by SMU alumni J. Lindsay Embrey and his wife, Bobbie, will be used as the financial impetus for the new building.
Many school officials, including University President R. Gerald Turner and Board of Trustees Chairman and football field namesake Gerald J. Ford, as well as engineering students, both current and alums, were present for the ceremony. Also in attendance was exiting Provost Ross C. Murfin, in what was his last groundbreaking ceremony as provost of SMU.
“Lindsay and Bobbie Embrey have a long history of support for engineering. We are grateful for this latest gift, another example of their leadership supporting academic needs that are critical to SMU’s progress,” said President Turner in a press release. “Just a few short years ago SMU renewed its commitment to excellence in engineering, and it is gratifying to see donors and industry leaders embrace this goal through their generosity.”
The three-story, 50,000 square foot building will bring together both the Mechanical Engineering
See “expansion” on page 11 and the Environmental and Civil Engineering Departments. Currently, the Mechanical Engineering Department is housed in the aluminum siding “transition building” most students know as the Cinco Center, and the Environmental and Civil Engineering Department is housed in the Caruth Building.
SMU Engineering professor Stephen A. Szygenda says the new building will help promote interaction and cross-disciplinary studies between the departments.
“As the departments of Mechanical Engineering and Environmental and Civil Engineering are brought together in a space that promotes both educational and research agendas, there will be a new synergy between the faculty and students,” Szygenda said in a press release. “This new cooperative outlook will broaden students’ experience in the School of Engineering, making them more marketable and better equipped for the global perspectives demanded in today’s careers in engineering. This donation from the Embrey’s will ensure that engineering at SMU will be able to achieve international prominence that is integral to the school’s philosophy of engineering and beyond.”
SMU students are very excited about the opportunities the new building will give them.
“I think it will open a lot of opportunities for the department. I’m sure a lot of prospective students will be attracted to the engineering department due to the state of the art facilities,” said sophomore Mechanical Engineering major Ana Flenoy.
The Embrey Building’s location, at the corner of Dyer St. and Airline, across from the Patterson Hall police department, will help form the new East Quad along with the Blanton, Junkins, and the future Collins Executive Education Building, which will open in the fall. These buildings will serve as the new entrance to the University from Central Expressway.
While the Embrey Building will have the same look as the other buildings on campus and will incorporate many of the same design features of the Junkins building, the new facility will be the first building on SMU campus, as well as the first in Dallas, that meets the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating.
LEED rated buildings are “a leading-edge system for designing, constructing and certifying the world’s greenest and best buildings,” according to the website of the U.S. Green Building Council, the creators of the rating system. Buildings are inspected by outside professionals and they are rated on a points system to obtain LEED certification.
School of Engineering Dean Geoffrey Orsak said that having students of the Civil and Environmental Engineering as well as the Mechanical Engineering departments trained and educated in a building that meets the very high standards of a LEED building will serve as a “living laboratory” for engineering students and he sees it as a great way for students to get hands-on experience in a facility that is using these pioneering building standards.
Dean Orsak said that in addition to direct benefits to the students, the new Embrey Building is increasing the School of Engineering’s ability to recruit quality professors. He said that two new professors will be joining the SMU School of Engineering next fall. Dr. Yuhang Wang, currently a postdoc at Harvard University, will join the SMU Computer Science and Engineering Department as a junior faculty member, and Dr. Wei Tong, a current faculty member at Yale, will join the SMU Mechanical Engineering Department as a senior faculty member.
The J. Lindsay Embrey Engineering Building is scheduled to be completed by the end of Summer 2006, and Dean Orsak hopes students will be attending classes in the building in the Fall 2006 semester. The total cost of the building will be approximately $15 million. To raise the additional funds, the naming rights to a variety of rooms and other locations within the building are being offered by the University. Prices range from “special naming opportunities” starting at $100, to the naming of the Dean’s Suite for $2 million. Interested parties should contact Barbara Hollis at [email protected] or at 214-768-3674.
Embrey Building dedicated (Photo by Austin Kilgore, The Daily Campus)
