A Campus Within a Campus Comes to Life
Palm trees make SCU feel like home and now that these icons are lining the courtyard of the STEM building nearing completion in the center of campus, legions of engineering and science students will feel right at home as they explore unparalleled opportunities for interaction and collaboration in the new Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation (SCDI), opening this fall. Inside, many labs are complete–fume hoods, benches, and shelving units have been installed, classrooms and offices are being outfitted, and faculty from the School of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences are nailing down policies and procedures for maximizing the use of this transdisciplinary space.
As exciting as the new building is, Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Shoba Krishnan points out that the new integrated STEM complex includes the adjacent Heafey-Bergin Hall buildings which will be transformed this summer into an interdisciplinary hub for computing and mathematics. New labs and experimentation spaces will facilitate student and faculty use of data analytics, simulation, and modeling to address the world’s deeply complex problems.
“The School of Engineering’s existing interdisciplinary labs— Robotics Systems Lab, Frugal Innovation Hub, Latimer Energy Lab, BioInnovation and Design Lab—will all have significant homes within the STEM complex and the brand new Innovation Zone maker space is sure to be a favorite. It’s all really cool to see how the campus is spurring creativity, collaboration, and innovation, and it will be exciting to see how our STEM students will make these spaces home,” Krishnan said.