Concise Encyclopedia of Tufts History
Sauer, Anne
Branco, Jessica
Bennett, John
Crowley, Zachary
2000
Science and Technology Center, 1990
The Tufts Science and Technology Center was completed in 1990, and serves as a home to the Department of Chemical Engineering, the Electro-Optics Technology Center, the High Energy Physics department, and the Condensed Matter Physics department. | |
Tufts University purchased the building that would later hold the Science and Technology Center in 1986. The building, located at 4 Colby St., had been home to the ACME Printing Company, and was a hold over from Medford's industrial days. After purchasing the building, Tufts received a $10 million grant from the US Department of Energy to transform the warehouse into a state-of-the-art facility. The grant required that the building design would incorporate new energy saving techniques, and would experiment with innovative energy savers. Along with the government grant, Tufts received a one million-dollar grant from Kenneth Richardson, E1952, and his wife Constance Rogers Richardson, J1952.Their grant funded the construction of a fully equipped conference center inside the facility. The university's budget surplus also provided some of the funds necessary to complete the $13.3 million project. | |
In January, 1989, the Medford Community Development Planning Board finally approved the Tufts proposal to renovate the old factory, on the condition that Tufts conduct a traffic study and fund road improvements in the area. In February, construction on the building finally started. Completion of the project was slated for early summer, 1990, but the renovations were not completed until the beginning of September. The renovated center contained two thirty-three-seat classrooms, an auditorium, the conference center, state of the art laser labs, and research facilities for students and faculty. The two-story, 89,000 square foot center vastly increased the amount of space devoted all of the programs it housed, and also opened up space in the old engineering buildings. | |
As of 2001, the Sci-Tech Center, as the building is known around campus, continues to house offices, classrooms, and advanced labs for scientific study. | |
Source: TJ, OBS, TD | |
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