By TOM GERROW
BG Independent News
The BGSU Technology and Engineering Innovation Center is open for business this spring semester, though it’s a bit of a soft opening as the staff of the College of Engineering and Innovation still has a lot to unpack and get in place. As in $7 million worth of robots, 3-D printers, CNC machines, computers, augmented reality assets, and more, all intended to give engineering students hands-on experience with the technology they will be using in their careers.
Though final touches remain, the lab work has commenced for engineering students.
“I love the hands-on experience,” said Logan Brann, a senior in electronics and computer engineering at BGSU. “I feel like I gained a lot more knowledge during the lab section, and then I can use whatever I learned in the lectures for the labs. We always work in groups, so we always have one or two people with us to bounce ideas off each other.”
According to Dr. Wael Mokhtar, dean of the College of Engineering and Innovation, the project is adding an additional 43 percent of instructional space to the College of Engineering and Innovation, and 90 percent of the new instructional space in the center is dedicated to labs. The extra space is needed. During the last two years, the number of freshman students enrolling in engineering increased by almost 35 percent. It’s a trend he expects to continue.
“One of the strengths of our program here is the level of hands-on experience,” said Mokhtar. “Because 100 percent of our students work internships and co-ops in industry, we have members of industry that have been here in this building almost from day one, designing together how the equipment will work, so that it will match what they have. Actually, some equipment is the same brand of machine that they are using here in northwest Ohio.”
Makhtar said the facility has been designed not just for traditional students, but also non-traditional students who might come from industry for workforce development – engineers or technicians who would like to upgrade their skills.
Ohio is number three in the country in manufacturing, Mokhtar noted, adding that northwest Ohio, when combined with the Detroit area, has more robots than any other place in the country.
“This is real training for the real workplace,” Mokhtar said. “I have been talking to industry for the last 15 months and have given maybe 200 tours here. Without facilities like this, there is no way we can keep up with the need for mechanical engineers, control engineers, and all kinds of engineers.”
Mosser Construction, which has worked on other projects at BGSU, including the Stroh Center, served as construction manager for the $32 million center, which broke ground in 2024.
“They have been a phenomenal partner throughout this entire process,” said Kristi Peiffer, director of Campus Construction. “Our design team was The Collaborative out of Toledo, and they both worked really hard with us, so we were able to come in on time and on budget.”
“We were very strategic when we started looking at the labs, and we wanted to design them based on a modular approach,” Peiffer said. “The idea is that these spaces are designed so that they can ebb and flow with the needs and changes of technology.”
Peiffer added that the center itself has a very linear shape to allow for expansion opportunities in the future if the program continues to grow and additional square footage is required.
There is still some construction going on at the center, for some additional work added to the scope of the project after it began. Peiffer expects that it will wrap up by May.
