March 2008
NSPE TODAY
NSPE Member Makes Donation To Purdue Engineering
NSPE member Stephen Bechtel Jr., P.E., chairman emeritus of the Bechtel Group Inc., has given $2 million to a Purdue University engineering learning laboratory.
Bechtel's gift will be used to construct and equip the $4.3 million Ideas to Innovation Learning Laboratory.
"Engineering has been pivotal in shaping this nation's industrial capabilities and making us the world's premier economy," Bechtel says. "Providing engineering students an authentic hands-on education based on design, creativity, and innovation will help keep America's technological edge sharp."
The laboratory will serve more than 1,600 students annually. In the summer, it will be used by K?12 administrators, counselors, and teachers taking part in engineering summer academies and other university programs.
The laboratory will consist of several team-focused, collaborative spaces: the Design Studio, the Innovation Studio, the Rapid-Prototyping Studio, the Fabrication and Artisan Laboratories, and the Demonstration Studio.
Bechtel is also a longtime supporter of Engineers Week, founded by NSPE in 1951. He makes annual financial contributions to EWeek programs, and a recent grant from the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation was used to produce EWeek's new Discover Engineering DVD.