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.