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New facilities coming online
 The
College of Engineering and Science has completed two new facilities
that will dramatically enhance the college’s efforts in advanced
materials and computer science.
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Computer
Science’s new home in McAdams Hall gives students better
access to faculty and graduate assistants. The department
now has space that is better suited for the collaborative
nature of courses that promote team projects. |
A
$21 million dollar advanced materials complex has been completed
in the Clemson Research Park. This facility will initially house
Clemson’s Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering
Technologies (COMSET).
 
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The
new 111,000 sq ft advanced materials laboratory will house
two proposed Research Centers of Economic Excellence - one
in electron imaging and another in photonics. The initiative
is designed to create a regional knowledge-based cluster attracting
high-tech, high-paying jobs. |
COMSET
is the only university R&D lab focused on the development of
new optical materials. Their research attracted more than $13 million
in sponsored research during the center’s first three years.
COMSET recently was designated a state center by the S.C. Commission
on Higher Education and granted $5 million in matching funds for
an endowed faculty member. The faculty position is a cornerstone
of Clemson University’s plan to invest $70 million over the
next five years at the Clemson Research Park to make the Upstate
a magnet for the advanced materials industry cluster.
The
advanced materials lab will also be home to a Research Center of
Economic Excellence in electron microscopy. This center, which expands
on Clemson’s current lab, will be one of the top research
EM facilities in the nation.
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A
delegation of diplomats from 15 countries visited Clemson
University’s new advanced materials research laboratory
and talked with Clemson President Jim Barker. Clemson University
is committed to supporting the state vision of growing an
advanced materials industry cluster. |
Computer
Science has a new home in the newly-renovated McAdams Hall. The
“new” McAdams Hall helps the department achieve a sense
of “space identify” that promotes a collegial atmosphere
between faculty and students. For years, the department has been
split between multiple buildings with its faculty in one building
and its graduate students and research labs in a second. Such a
division hampered both research and instruction. The new facility
effectively doubles the research space that available to the department,
which will also allow more aggressive pursuit of research contracts
and grants.
Computer
Science has become an increasingly integral part of research initiatives
around campus. Researchers in other disciplines often find that
they need Computer Science participants to mount viable projects
in their particular area. A strong and growing computer science
program is important to the future growth of research across campus.
The demand for computer science professionals within the state,
the region and the nation will continue to grow in future years.
The “new” McAdams will enhance the college’s ability
to attract quality students and faculty and will meet the accreditation
requirements of our undergraduate program.
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