Purdue Northwest opens the David Roberts Center for Innovation and Design
David and Susan Roberts attend the ribbon cutting for the David Roberts Center for Innovation and Design at Purdue University Northwest, in Hammond, Ind., Sept. 10, 2020.
Purdue University Northwest has opened the David Roberts Center for Innovation and Design, located on Indianapolis Boulevard just a few blocks west of the PNW Hammond Campus.
The 4,500-square-foot, technology-driven facility will provide students the means to focus on synergistic project-based designs. The Center was configured optimizing the 3M principle: mobile, modular and maintainable.
Niaz Latif, dean of the PNW College of Technology, said the goal of the Center is to promote collaborative efforts with key industry partners and pursue faculty grantsmanship and scholarly work. The Center will support industry-sponsored senior design projects and provide the opportunity for students to work as an interdisciplinary team. It will advance applied research and foster innovation.
The Center is named in recognition of David Roberts for his significant gifts to Purdue Northwest. Roberts, a graduate of Purdue Northwest, served as the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Carlisle Companies, Inc.
This Center gives faculty members and students the opportunity to provide solutions to our industry partners to be competitive regionally and globally
“Manufacturing education is important for bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States,” Roberts said. “It is my pleasure to be able to support such programs in the College of Technology.”
The Center will provide physical space for undergraduate and graduate research projects. It will provide innovative solutions and opportunities to explore applications of new and emerging technologies. It will include both additive and subtractive manufacturing technologies.
“This Center gives faculty members and students the opportunity to provide solutions to our industry partners to be competitive regionally and globally,” said Mohammad Zahraee, associate dean of the College of Technology.
“This facility will augment PNW’s goal to become a more engaged university by partnering with industry and business in Northwest Indiana and greater Chicagoland,” Latif added.