The central academic corridor through Williston, Wentworth, and Dobbs Halls known as the “High-Tech Highway” got some new traffic this fall with the addition of new lab and community spaces. The Gelfand Strength of Materials Lab, the Sweeney Nanotechnology Lab, the Amelia and Eugene Lutrzykowski Collaboration Space, and a new materials science lab—all housed in Dobbs Hall and occupying a total of 7,000 square feet—are the latest additions.
The Gelfand Strength of Materials Lab triples the size of the previous lab. Machinery dating as far back as the 1950s was replaced with modern, state-of-the-art equipment that tests tensile strength, torsion, structural behavior, and more on smaller, streamlined machines. The lab was made possible in part by a gift of more than $1 million from Mark Gelfand and Cynthia Calabrese.
The collaboration space is named for Calabrese’s parents. The Sweeney Nanotechnology Lab is named for Wentworth benefactor Eugenia Sweeney. A graphic designed by Neal Dossantos, BSA ’15, and Jackie Mignone, BSA ’15, adorns a wall near the Dobbs Hall entrance.
“It’s a fantastic place, and it’s going to be a real attraction for prospective students,” says Fred Driscoll, dean of the College of Engineering and Technology.
The new additions, combined with the Altschuler Computer Center, which opened last spring, and the Manufacturing Center, which opened in 2011, complete a massive, transformative overhaul of this ground-floor corridor. For the first time, natural light from windows near the Williston Hall and Dobbs Hall entrances illuminates the space, and new windows, flooring, and finishes throughout provide an entirely new look and feel.
“This is really a graduate-level facility for undergraduates,” Driscoll says. “It’s really exciting.”
–Caleb Cochran
