Knowlton STEM Center construction on track for early 2021 opening at BW

The future of STEM education in Northeast Ohio is taking shape at Baldwin Wallace University and the finishing touches are right on time for a January 2021 opening.

The Austin E. Knowlton Center is ready to welcome students, faculty and staff from the inviting exterior portico to the dramatic forum staircase that doubles as an indoor amphitheater space.

The inspiring space also features a soaring elevator shaft wrapped in wood panels crafted from reclaimed campus trees and two-story windows that offer a sweeping view of BW's North Quad.

The innovative spaces for STEM learning also set the center apart.

Industry Collaboration

"BW is meeting the growing demand in burgeoning fields like data science and applied mathematics, computer and network security, and engineering," says Dr. James McCargar, associate dean of BW's School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computing.

"We are equipping students for careers that are reshaping our future and empowering graduates to lead in ways we can only begin to imagine today."

McCargar adds that the Knowlton Center was designed with industry input and talent development in mind.

"The building's advanced labs will encourage collaboration between the sciences with students, faculty and regional partners from a range of disciplines working together to solve unscripted problems."

Advanced Lab Spaces

Among the highlights featured in McCargar's recent hard-hat, video tour (embedded below) are spaces that will be steeped in opportunity for hands-on, experiential learning and real-world collaboration with industry:

• The fabrication lab will allow engineering students to design, prototype and build real-world projects with regional industry and government partners.
• The user experience (UX) lab will act as a computing industry collaboration tool for technology design to meet the needs of everyday users.
• The optics suite will provide dedicated laboratory spaces for students of physics to probe optical phenomena ranging from lasers to holography.
• The data visualization lab will support math and computer science students as they graph and track data output for critical community and business initiatives.
• The maker space and robotics lab will foster the development and mastery of in-demand skills prized by employers in Northeast Ohio and beyond.
• The forum staircase will be the hub of the Knowlton Center and serve as amphitheater seating to host impromptu gatherings as well as planned events like world-class lectures, high-impact seminars and showcases for student work.

McCargar concludes, "The Knowlton Center will be a hive of essential and exciting academic, industrial and social activity for Northeast Ohio."