Kevin Smith, special projects manager and clerk of the works for Wentworth, has a deep appreciation for those who have studied at Wentworth in the past and made the university what it is today. But he also recognizes the work university officials have done to build a campus for the future.
As he eyes the finish line for the completion of the new Center for Engineering, Innovation and Sciences, Smith sees a building that will provide students with the tools—both new and time-honored—to graduate and find endless opportunities to make a difference in the world.
“I like to think that this is the kind of building where the kids are going to take the history of Wentworth and create a better pacemaker, a better pump, a better injection system, or a better dialysis machine,” Smith says.
The 75,000-square-foot center features 21 new labs, four project rooms, 10 collaboration spaces, and 24 offices. The budding will house Wentworth’s new Biological Engineering department; its Biomedical Engineering and Civil Engineering Departments; Accelerate, Wentworth’s innovation and entrepreneurship center; and additive manufacturing center; as well as Wentworth’s Externally Collaborative, Project-Based, Interdisciplinary Culture for Learning (EPIC) initiative.
“We’re going to be using a lot of state-of-the-art, brand new, current instruments,” Smith says. “When kids get out of here with the experience they’ve gotten in the classroom, they’re going to be using the exact same equipment, if not better [in the new Center]. It’s just a giant step up.”
Smith is additionally excited about the visibility that a new, modern building affords Wentworth. Particularly, he references the vitrine area on the first level, which will serve as a showcase for student work.
“You’re not going to be able to miss this,” he says. “Having Architecture, Industrial Design, and Civil [Engineering] showing off their school projects, their artwork, whatever it may be, right on the sidewalk where everyone’s going to be walking by all day long, I think that’s a great advertisement for Wentworth.”
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held for the Center for Engineering, Innovation and Sciences on November 14 with occupants officially moving in during the month of January.
–Greg Abazorius and Samuel Kim