Saturday, the University broke ground on McCourtney Hall, a “world-class research facility” to be located east of the Hesburgh Library, according to a Notre Dame press release.
“McCourtney Hall creates a great opportunity for the research programs in science and engineering at Notre Dame,” Robert Bernhard, vice president for research at Notre Dame, said in a statement. “The building is designed as a collaborative and adaptive space to encourage cross-disciplinary research interaction along the entire continuum of basic and applied research. … We expect the building to be a game-changer for science and engineering research at Notre Dame.”
Set for completion in June 2016, the building will house the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering from the College of Engineering as well as the department of chemistry and biochemistry from the College of Science. It will also feature about 100,000 square feet of laboratory and team spaces, 40,000 square feet of which will remain “unassigned to facilitate new hires,” the release stated.
“McCourtney Hall is the first dedicated research building to be constructed in a planned larger East Campus Research Complex,” the release stated. “The research quad will create, for the first time at Notre Dame, a space for highly collaborative, state-of-the-art research that crosses the Colleges of Science and Engineering. The building will support research space needs that are currently unmet on campus and facilitate current Strategic Research Initiatives and the Advancing Our Vision hiring plans within the molecular sciences.”
A $35 million gift from alumnus Ted H. McCourtney and his wife, Tracy, underwrote the construction of the building. Alumnus and Notre Dame trustee Thomas J. Crotty, Jr. and his wife, Shari, donated $10 million for the facility.
