$25 million for Marshall engineering complex

The West Virginia Higher Education policy commission recently approved a $25 million grant to build a new Applied Engineering Complex.

Plans call for the complex to be built next to the current engineering building at Marshall. The new complex will allow the University to take a large step toward accreditation in engineering.

Isaac Wait is a professor in the engineering department. He says he’s ecstatic about the news.

“We’re just ecstatic here in the program about the support we’re getting at that people realize the importance of engineering here at Marshall,” Wait said.  

The complex will not only house engineering, but also subjects like mathematics and digital imaging. Wait says it’s important engineers in this day and age be able to work across different platforms.

“Educating engineers who are multi-disciplinary is very important and that’s sort of the new wave of engineering programs out there, to try and build engineers that are comfortable in many different fields,” Wait said.

Marshall’s four year engineering program was reestablished in 2006 after being suspended since the mid 1970’s. Kopp says the complex will help Marshall stay ahead of the curve in engineering education.

“We’re light years ahead of where we were in the past and that’s an important transition that we’ve made and need to continue to make,” Kopp said.  

Kopp says they’ve had the idea since he became president in 2005. He says he’s glad the process is coming along, but that he won’t be satisfied till it’s over.

“When the Applied Engineering Complex is built, I will feel I fulfilled a commitment I made when I first came in,” Kopp said.  

The $25 million still has to be approved by Gov. Joe Manchin. Kopp says that once that’s approved, school officials want to raise another $15-$25 million with other grants and private funding.

Kopp says he would like to break ground in two to three years.