The proposed Center for Industrial Innovation received a $32 million interest-free loan this summer from New York State for its construction.
RPI has already committed itself to paying back the loan over a 40-year period and must raise an additional $30 million to pay for the equipment and programs scheduled to occupy the building by 1986.
According to Lee Wilcox, vice president for student affairs, the center will house four disciplines: graphics, microelectronics, manufacturing productivity, and industrial and management engineering.
Plans for the building’s location are still being considered.
Last spring, an architecture firm was asked to design plans for building the new center on the east end of the ’86 Field, and Institute President George Low prepared a presentation for students, faculty, and staff.
Low presented the architecture firm’s findings to the Faculty Executive Committee and student leaders at a campus meeting held yesterday designed to allow the RPI community to provide input on the building and its site.
A model of the proposed center will be available for campus viewing before Low makes his final decision on October 1. Open bidding for the building’s construction will then begin during the fall of 1983.
