MARIETTA, Ga. - Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) has officially opened its new $30 million Engineering Technology Center (ETC) on the campus.

SPSU is the only public university in Georgia offering a degree in mechatronics engineering - the integration of mechanical and electrical engineering disciplines with an infusion of computer science and software engineering. The ETC will house this program, in addition to all of the other engineering and engineering technology programs in SPSU’s School of Engineering Technology & Management and Division of Engineering. Altogether, SPSU offers a total of 13 undergraduate engineering and engineering technology degree programs, and three graduate engineering and engineering technology programs.

In addition to classrooms, faculty offices, computer labs, and an auditorium, the three-story, 120,000-square-foot structure also features a number of highly specialized labs, including an energy/HVAC lab, a fluid mechanics lab, a strength-of-materials lab, a metrology lab, an electromagnetics lab, and a computer-integrated manufacturing lab.

The facility, designed by architect Cooper Carry, is on track to receive silver-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

For more information, visit www.spsu.edu.

Publication date:01/24/2011