Yeh Center Groundbreaking April 7

4/5/2010

Groundbreaking ceremony on Newmark Lab addition to be held Wednesday, April 7.

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The official groundbreaking ceremony for the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Student Center in Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory will be held Wednesday, April 7, from 1-3 p.m. at Newmark Lab, 205 N. Mathews Ave., Urbana.  The Yeh Center will be a 20,500-square-foot addition to Newmark Lab that will be entirely student-focused, providing new classrooms and meeting spaces for students in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

Weather permitting, the groundbreaking will take place outside at the northeast corner of Newmark Lab at 1 p.m.  Immediately following, the group will move to the north wing of the crane bay for remarks by Professor and Head Amr Elnashai, Vice Chancellor Richard Wheeler, College of Engineering Dean Ilesanmi Adesida, donor/alumnus representative Wilbur C. Milhouse, and student representative Claire Joseph.  We will conclude with an informal reception.  In the case of inclement weather, the groundbreaking will be moved indoors to the north wing of the crane bay.  All are welcome.

New classrooms, a conference room, meeting rooms for student groups, and a spacious atrium with seating for informal gathering are all part of the design.  The goal is to improve the student experience by providing CEE students with a designated “home” on campus where they can attend class, hold student group meetings, study and collaborate on projects, and meet informally.  Currently, CEE classes are held in various buildings across campus.  Move-in is set for April 2011.  The construction of the Yeh Student Center will fulfill the original vision for Newmark Laboratory, which included plans for an additional structure for classrooms.  At that time, budget constraints prevented its realization. 

The Yeh Center will also serve as a living laboratory with links to the physical structure where displays fed by wireless sensors will show long-span vibrations, energy consumption, and other unique features of the building directly applicable to the students’ learning experience.  The addition will meet the standards for a silver certification through LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a program administered by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The Yeh Student Center is named for M.T. Geoffrey Yeh (BS 53), Chairman of Hsin Chong Construction Group Ltd., Hong Kong, who made the lead gift of $4 million. Born in 1931 in Shanghai, China, Yeh is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building, United Kingdom; Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors; Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Construction Managers; and Honorary Fellow of the Asian Institute of Intelligent Buildings.

In addition to serving as Chairman of Hsin Chong International Holdings Ltd., Yeh holds directorships in numerous companies both public-listed and private. During his career, he pioneered various cost- and time-saving construction innovations in Hong Kong that are now in use by all construction companies throughout the region. He was Chairman of the Hong Kong Construction Industry Training Authority in 1975 and Chairman of the Hong Kong Futures Exchange in 1998.
 
Yeh is a 2010 Distinguished Alumnus of CEE at Illinois. He established the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Graduate Research Fellowship in the department in 1994 and the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Endowed Chair Fund in 1998. In 2007, he pledged the lead gift for the Yeh Student Center in Newmark Laboratory. He is a member of the President’s Council of the University of Illinois Foundation.

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This story was published April 5, 2010.