In response to a sharp demand generated by both a growth in the number of students at UC Riverside majoring in engineering and an increasing number of new faculty hired in the Bourns College of Engineering, the college began construction of "Engineering Building Unit 2" (Engineering II) on September 3, 2002. The groundbreaking ceremony for Engineering II will take place at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, September 25th, in the Bourns Hall courtyard on the UC Riverside campus.

Occupancy in Engineering II is scheduled for the 2004-2005 academic year. The new Engineering Unit II building will provide nearly 90,000 assignable square feet of state-of-the-art research and teaching space for the Computer Science & Engineering and Electrical Engineering departments. The 55,000 square foot site is adjacent to the existing Bourns Hall, a three-story showpiece building that currently provides 104,000 square feet of office, classroom and laboratory space.

The additional space provided by the new building will give students access to faculty conducting innovative, cutting-edge research in computer networking, data mining, embedded systems, signal and image processing, intelligent systems, robotics, knowledge processing, computer systems, computational biology and other topics.

"The Bourns College of Engineering is experiencing an unprecedented period of growth that is expected to result in a student population that will double in this decade," said Dr. Satish Tripathi, dean of the college. "The college was founded in 1990 and already we've felt the need for a new building. This growth in size will be accompanied by equally aggressive efforts to provide additional faculty, facilities, and funding necessary to grow in quality as well. The vision of the college is to become a nationally recognized leader in engineering research and education."

Later this month, more than 2000 undergraduate and graduate students will begin classes taught by 60 faculty members in the College of Engineering.

"The creation of technology through research and the production of well trained engineers is a key component to economic growth," said Mark Matsumoto, the college's associate dean for research and student affairs. "Last year, the college surpassed the 1,000 alumni figure. Half of these students have stayed in Southern California and are contributing to the local economy. To date, ten companies have been created by the college's alumni. Research collaborations are another way that the college is impacting industry."

For the planning and design of the building, $3.5 million has already been provided; $36 million will be provided by the State of California for the construction of the building; an additional $10 million must be raised privately to fund the construction, technology and furnishings of the building. In addition, $10 million in program, fellowship and scholarship funding are being sought as a part of the campaign.

For more information and/or to view an animated rendering of Engineering II, please visit http://www.engr.ucr.edu/newbuilding/

The University of California, Riverside offers undergraduate and graduate education to nearly 15,000 students and has a projected enrollment of 21,000 students by 2010. It is the fastest growing and most ethnically diverse campus of the preeminent ten-campus University of California system, the largest public research university system in the world. The picturesque 1,200-acre campus is located at the foot of the Box Springs Mountains near downtown Riverside in Southern California. More information about UC Riverside is available at www.ucr.edu or by calling 909-787-5185. For a listing of faculty experts on a variety of topics, please visit http://pr.ucr.edu/experts/.