Explore BMEC

Before the first architectural plans were drawn, before dignitaries gathered to break ground, the Biomedical and Materials Engineering Complex was conceived with its users in mind.

Undergraduate and graduate students, faculty members and support staff were consulted for their feedback: How can modern classrooms empower students through experiential learning? How can building design lead to desired research outcomes—with potential for commercialization of intellectual property and translation to clinical applications supported at every turn?

The result? A paradigm-shifting facility that promotes 21st century teaching and learning, unmatched in its capacity for innovation and collaboration.

When phase one of construction [was] complete and doors [opened] in 2020, the Biomedical and Materials Engineering Complex (Mars G. Fontana Laboratories) [was] poised to transform the spaces where students, faculty and partners learn and innovate. Beyond the natural collaborations between the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, the close proximity to other campus collaborators will lead to life-changing material innovations impacting health, transportation, energy and more.

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“It will be exciting to have a new facility and to host companies here and bring people in to see. It will help attract more students and to recruit and retain faculty. The labs will be more interactive and open, which will enable dialogue with different groups and expose us to others’ research. I think it’s going to be very easy to go next door to find someone to write a National Institutes of Health proposal with.”

Perena Gouma, Edward Orton, Jr., Chair in Ceramic Engineering

Notable Features Include:

• Undergraduate learning spaces following a “scaffold” model, in which students begin their coursework on the first and second floors and move upward as the complexity of their studies and research progresses
• Five university pooled classrooms and a 150-seat auditorium that [puts] education on display, showcasing the complex as a university-wide destination for innovative learning
• State-of-the-art, globally leading technology in two undergraduate computer labs and an electronic instrumentation lab
• Third and fourth floors devoted to research by faculty, graduate students and undergrads
• Five engineering research neighborhoods enhance collaboration between engineering and medicine
• Twenty collaborative and huddle spaces shared by undergraduate, graduate students and faculty, including an intentionally designed center for collaboration and creativity
• Faculty and professor of practice “hoteling” offices, providing spaces for connection and discovery with industry sponsored research partners
• Wide-open floor plates with moveable walls and modular equipment, so that over time, space can be reconfigured to address evolving needs in research and education
• Private spaces where industry partners can present new products to faculty and students, exchange intellectual property ideas and more
• “Green Building” designation, to maximize efficiency and steward resources effectively

By the College of Engineering