The highly anticipated Stinson-Remick Hall of Engineering opened this January, in time for students returning to campus this semester to attend classes in the new state-of-the-art facility.
The 142,000-square foot building houses offices for professors, classrooms and other facilities geared toward the engineering population on campus.
While most of its usage thus far has been by graduate engineering students and freshmen, many undergraduates are eagerly anticipating their turn to utilize its amenities.
"It'll be really awesome to have classes in Stinson-Remick and it will do a lot for the graduate program and the prestige of the engineering program as a whole," sophomore Chemical Engineering major Trey Cryan said.
Although he does not have any classes in the new building, Cryan said the building has afforded him an extra place to study.
"I'm really happy about it, it has a lot of really good resources not just for studying but also having current, modern facilities," he said.
According to Notre Dame's Web site, the $70 million building is home to a nanotechnology research center as well as an undergraduate interdisciplinary learning center.
In addition, Stinson-Remick is also the home of Notre Dame's new Energy Center, which is an 11,800 square foot semiconductor processing and device fabrication clean room.
Freshman Mechanical Engineering major Zach Woodruff has class in Stinson-Remick and said he thinks it will help students in the class when they need extra space to work on group projects.
"I have the learning center in that building, which basically is a big group class where you do more of the hands-on engineering stuff," he said.
Woodruff said students encountered some difficulties with trying to complete their final project at the end of last semester in the older engineering building, but with the luxury of space in Stinson-Remick, he doesn't believe that will occur again.
"With the new building, on all sides of me there were new areas and chairs with computers and a 55-inch television screen that a student can hook their computer up to so everyone working in the group can see what is going on," he said. "Especially since we're going into the programming part of the learning center, it will be nice to have a place and the resources for you to have a successful and efficient meeting."
Both Cryan and Woodruff said some areas of the building appear to be unfinished, but they anticipate that with its completion the building will be even better.
"A lot of things seem a bit unfinished now — there's no name on the outside anywhere, and when you walk inside it's clear that there's wires hanging out of the ceiling," Woodruff said. "I can see it definitely being more completed in a few months or so."
