A ground breaking event was held for the Engineering and Math Building on the Cecil College campus near North East, Md.
The three-story, 28,683 square foot building will support the educational and training requirements of the high-tech industries, and their employees, located in Cecil County. As required by Maryland law, the building is being constructed to attain LEED silver certification. This would be the first building in Cecil County to receive such a designation.
“We come together today to officially break ground on a building that will house some of our engineering, physics and mathematics offerings and related academic support,” said Cecil College President W. Stephen Pannill. “With its hundreds of additional parking spaces and roadway improvements, it is a sign of our growth, which affords Cecil Countians greater opportunity.”
Scheduled to be completed in August 2014 at a cost of $23,492,000, design and engineering services have been provided by Marshall Craft Associates, while the construction is being done by Riparius Construction, Inc.
The building will provide space for expanding course offerings by Cecil in engineering, math and physics. That will enhance transfer opportunities for its students and greatly support the rapidly growing degree programs in engineering. The center will also help the college continue to promote the STEM initiative preparing students for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics while they are in middle school.
The Engineering and Math Building will have eight labs – four for math, three for general purpose engineering and physics, one for specialized engineering instruction – and two lab prep rooms for engineering and physics. A number of green design elements are being incorporated such as reduced maintenance turf and plantings, an energy management dashboard system that will allow for monitoring and control of energy usage, and the maximization of daylight throughout the building.
Many of the project’s components aim to aid the students’ academic experience, including a distant learning/teaching system, hi-tech smart boards in the classroom labs, learning dashboards on building operation systems, and wireless access throughout. Wind turbines, solar panels and a weather station will benefit both the functioning of the building as well as the educational aspect through visual displays and access to operational data.
