College of Engineering
State approves funding for new Advanced Construction and Manufacturing building
The Advanced Construction and Manufacturing Engineering building – the second new engineering building at Tennessee Tech funded in the last two years – will be coming to campus thanks to funding approved in the Tennessee state budget for 2022-2023 going into effect July 1st. The ACME building will be cross-disciplinary within the College of Engineering and will provide Tech students with applied skills called for directly by industry partners.
“The Tennessee Tech College of Engineering prides itself on graduates who are trained not just in the classroom but also in environments and with equipment that matches what employers use,” said Joseph C. Slater, dean of the College of Engineering. “This facility will ensure our students experience real-world manufacturing and construction while they are students, instead of relying on industry to complete their education post-graduation.”
The new building provides a modernization of Tech’s manufacturing facilities to better house its already modernized manufacturing equipment, Slater said. The project includes a state-of-the-art foundry, along with replacing older spaces for concrete manufacturing and materials testing.
“As part of this year’s historic budget for higher education, Gov. Bill Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly invested heavily for Tech’s future students,” said Tennessee Tech President Phil Oldham. “On behalf of the entire Tech community, our faculty, staff, students and alumni, I am grateful for this support and appreciate how it will enable us to continue to serve students.”
With more than 2,600 students, the College of Engineering is Tech’s largest college, with nearly 27% of Tech’s total student body.
Construction on the Ashraf Islam Engineering Building, funded by the state in last year’s budget along with donations including a major gift from Tech alumnus Ashraf Islam, began last year.
“Hand-in-hand these two new buildings show prospective students the entire path from concept to analysis, collaborative design, further analysis, and testing of ideas in the lab,” Slater said. “Students who experience both buildings will be able to see and understand the entire process of creation that engineering represents.”
The project budget for the Advanced Construction and Manufacturing Engineering building is $64.4 million, with the university having to supply nearly $5 million. The initial project timeline is for nearly four years. Upon completion of the new facility, the college will vacate its space in the East Stadium structure, and Lewis Hall and the Foundry building will be demolished.
The general assembly approved more than $100 million in total for new building projects at Tech. In addition to the ACME building, Tech will receive funding for total renovation of Johnson Hall, coupled with the demolition of Foster Hall. Johnson Hall is the home of the College of Business.
Read the university’s full story in the Tennessee Tech newsroom here.
