Long Anticipated Engineering Education and Research Center To Open At UT-Austin

AUSTIN, TX — University of Texas at Austin officials are poised to unveil a massive engineering center long in the making this week.

The Cockrell School of Engineering at UT-Austin will celebrate the grand opening of the highly anticipated, 430,000-square-foot Engineering Education and Research Center (EERC), a facility that will serve as the hub for engineering education, research and innovation on the UT-Austin campus. The site also will house the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The unveiling is scheduled to take place Thursday, Sept. 28 at 2:30 p.m.

Scheduled speakers at the ceremony include Gregory L. Fenves, president of the university; William McRaven, chancellor of the UT system; Sharon L. Wood, dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering; Mike Peng, Cockrell School senior and president of the Student Engineering Council; Alex O' Briant of Ennead Architects.

EERC By the Numbers:

• 9 Stories high
• 130 Faculty and staff member offices
• 267 Seats in the James J. and Miriam B. Mulva Auditorium (298 max capacity)
• 8,000+ Cockrell School students who will benefit from the EERC annually
• 23,000 Total square feet of open design space in the National Instruments Student Project Center
• 432,671 Exact square feet of space in the EERC
• $65 million Raised from more than 280 Texas Engineering supporters (most ever raised in support of a UT Austin building)

More than a decade in the making, the EERC is poised to transform the Cockrell School of Engineering — already ranked among the top 10 engineering schools in the world — and foster a new hands-on, multidisciplinary educational experience for students, university officials said. The opening will showcase the signature spaces inside and outside the building (via self-guided tours) and honor the many corporations, community leaders and generous donors who supported its construction, officials added.

More than 10 years ago, the school began work on a Facilities Master Plan that identified the need for a signature multidisciplinary facility that would bring people together and encourage collaboration and innovation, according to university officials. The school elected to build this new facility — the EERC — on the site of the 50-year-old Engineering-Science Building. Construction began on the EERC in 2015. The Cockrell School has more than 270 faculty members and more than 8,000 students enrolled in 11 undergraduate and 13 graduate degree programs.

The design and construction project team includes Ennead Architects, Jacobs Engineering Group and Hensel Phelps.

>>> Image: West-facing view of the Engineering Education and Research Center, from Speedway. Photo courtesy of Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin.