GRAND FORKS, N.D. - “This is not just a building we are building here. It's more than a building,” said the dean of College of Engineering and Mines Hesham El-Rewini.
On Monday a number of UND officials, North Dakota politicians and donors broke ground on a new Collaborative Energy Complex.
The building will be the new front door of the College of Engineering and Mines. In addition, it is designed to be a place where students and faculty can have interdisciplinary collaboration.
“In this day and age you cannot solve the new problems that we are facing globally by just learning one discipline. You need expertise from multiple disciplines,” El-Rewini said.
Out of the $15.5 million total for the project $14 million has been raised and two thirds of that has come from private donations from alumni and private industries.
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“It's about people, about new programs, about collaboration and about building bridges with industry,” El-Rewini said.
When completed the building will be nearly 37 thousand square feet and be home to the 2000 thousand students enrolled in the college of engineering and mines.
The new Collaborative Energy Complex is expected to open late next year.
