4/9/2010
The department officially broke ground on the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Student Center in Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory on April 7 with a ceremony in the Newmark Lab crane bay. 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 (CEE) at Illinois.
Written by
The department officially broke ground on the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Student Center in Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory on April 7 with a ceremony in the Newmark Lab crane bay. 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 (CEE) at Illinois.
“This building is the answer to many, many hopes over the years," Wheeler said. "It’s exemplary in that it is a donor-sponsored and financed operation. It’s exemplary in that it brings into focus a dimension of university life that sometimes gets pushed to the side … the importance of space. ...The university cares about its students, and the Yeh Center will become the home that civil and environmental engineering richly deserve, and it will be enduring for many years to come.”
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.
“Our dedication to our students is reflected by the new structure going up today within civil engineering," said Dean Adesida. "It is gratifying for us that a dream of 40 years is coming true.”
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 1953, Civil Engineering), 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.
"Some of my fondest memories of my time at the civil engineering department were chit-chatting with fellow students, discussing academic subjects as well as other worldly topics," Yeh wrote in a statement read by Elnashai. "Some of them became my lifelong friends. I hope that the student center will enable similar events to happen for today’s and tomorrow’s CEE students.”
CEE alumnus Milhouse echoed Yeh's sentiments about the lasting value of his time at Illinois—both the education he received and the relationships he formed here.
“The University and this College are home for me. I spent eight years of my life here. I raised two children here. I got married here. I got two degrees here,” Milhouse said. “This is an awesome day. I’m very proud to be an Illini.”
Current student Joseph, a senior, emphasized the need for the Yeh Center and thanked everyone involved in its realization on behalf of the student body.
"This construction fills a void that students have known for years: CEE students don’t have a place to call our own on campus,” Joseph said. “The Alma Mater just a few blocks away says it perfectly, ‘To thy happy children of the future, those of the past send greetings.’ The Yeh Student Center sends a clear message to the future students of our department, and that message is that there’s a long tradition of scholarship, leadership and commitment to responsibility in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Illinois, and they too can be a part of it.”
___________________
Contact/Writer: Celeste Arbogast Bragorgos, director of communications, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 217/333-6955.
If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, Engineering Communications Office, 217/244-7716, writer/editor.