Upon approval from the Board of Regents on May 13, the Division of Research and the Cullen College of Engineering will have a multidisciplinary research and engineering building built to provide facilities that will be located north of Michael J. Cemo Hall and west of Calhoun Lofts Apartments.

“This building is a tremendous catalyst to get us to that point,” said Russell Dunlavy, chief development officer for the college. “Dean Tedesco’s vision is to move the college into the top 50 engineering programs in the U.S.”

The Board of Regents’ Facilities, Construction and Master Planning Committee approved the site and program for the four-story building that is proposed to be finished February 2016.

Through this building, College of Engineering faculty will have more lab space, and the building will house major core facilities that serve the needs of the University’s engineering, energy and health research, said Vice Chancellor for Research and Technology Transfer Rathindra N. Bose.

Instead of having different research labs across campus, they will be housed in one central location.

“Our faculty deserves to have a state-of-the-art facility. The new research building will help us attract and retain top faculty,” said Dunlavy.

The University community believes the building will bring UH closer to Tier One status because UH has a Tier One target of $200 million in research expenditures by 2020.

Yet, the building with 19 labs will cost approximately $51 million, and the construction will destroy a parking lot with nearly 160 spaces.

Dunlavy said the University has received tremendous support from alumni and corporate partners and will continue to work with them to fundraise.

The University has already completed the Health and Biomedical Sciences Center and Engineering Research Center; a Health and Biomedical Sciences Center 2 is in the planning phase.

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