Facilities
In 1826, the UT Board of Trustees purchased property on what is known today as "The Hill." All of the College of Engineering's buildings are currently located in this area. Engineering and technology facilities include:
Estabrook Hall
Originally completed in 1898, Estabrook Hall has been on the university’s list of renovation projects for a number of years. In June of 2005, the legislature approved $16.6 million for the reconstruction of the facility. However, it was determined that the building had serious structural issues that would complicate renovation efforts. The college subsequently decided to construct a new building behind Pasqua Hall.
Pasqua Hall
Built in 1925, Pasqua was originally constructed to function as the university's power plant. It was renovated in 1973 to house the Department of Nuclear Engineering. In 1988, the building, unnamed since its construction in 1925, was designated Pasqua Hall in honor of Dr. Pietro F. Pasqua, the first head of the Department of Nuclear Engineering, which was established in 1957.
Ferris Hall
Ferris was built in 1930 and was named after Dr. Charles E. Ferris, the first dean of the College of Engineering and the founder of the COE's cooperative engineering education program. The building currently houses the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Perkins Hall
Perkins Hall was constructed in 1949. The building is named after Dr. Charles A. Perkins, who was the chair for the engineering department before it was established as a separate academic unit. The COE's administrative offices are located in Perkins and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is also housed in this building.
Nathan W. Dougherty Engineering Building
Built in 1963, this building is named for Dr. Nathan Dougherty, dean of the COE from 1940 until 1956. The facility is currently home to the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; the Department of Materials Science and Engineering; and the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering. The national headquarters of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, is also currently located in Dougherty.
The Science and Engineering Research Facility
Constructed in 1997, the Science and Engineering Research Facility (SERF), is a 230,000 square foot facility dedicated to research laboratories utilized by both the College of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences.
The Min H. Kao Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building
May 14, 2007, groundbreaking ceremonies were conducted for the new Min H. Kao Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building on the University of Tennessee's engineering campus. UT alumnus Dr. Min H. Kao, Chairman and CEO of Garmin International Inc., a world leader in global positioning systems (GPS) technology, committed in June 2005 to a transformational gift of $17.5 million to the COE–the largest private donation in UT history to that date. A total of $12.5 million from the donation is designated for the construction of the new facility. The Tennessee State Legislature’s approval of Governor Phil Bredesen’s proposed $25 million in state funding enhanced the building initiative to a total of $37.5 million for the 150,000 square foot facility. The building is currently under construction and is slated for completion in September 2011.
The Joint Institute for Advanced Materials
In 2005, $20 million in federal funding was secured for the Joint Institute for Advanced Materials (JIAM), a joint UT-ORNL institute for advanced materials multidisciplinary research in the transportation field. As a national leader in the field of materials research, the COE will play a leading role in the research conducted at the facility. Preliminary infrastructure work on the site, the university's Cherokee Farm Campus, began in 2010 and work on the 100,000 square foot building is scheduled to begin in 2011.
The John Tickle Building
The
five-story, 110,000 square foot facility will be built behind Pasqua Hall facing Neyland Drive. It will house the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Industrial and Information Engineering. The building is named for John Tickle, an industrial engineering alumnus and owner of Strongwell Corporation, who provided significant funding for the building. Groundbreaking took place on December 1, 2009 and construction is expected to begin in early 2011.