Continuing its promise to empower and support students in the STEM fields, The College of New Jersey has completed renovations to Armstrong Hall, home to the School of Engineering. The finished project marks the end of the $96 million-dollar STEM Complex Project, which began in 2015.
Armstrong Hall’s updated features include glass walls that showcase the school’s many learning labs, increased faculty research spaces that will allow for greater faculty-student collaboration, more open-study spaces for student projects and tutorials, a new HVAC system that will permit increased research opportunities in the summer months, and upgrades to classroom technology and the electrical and plumbing systems.
“This project helps us further expand our teacher-scholar model by allowing deep engagement of our undergraduates in the research of faculty members, and also bringing that research into the classroom for our students,” says Steven Schreiner, dean of the School of Engineering. “For us, research is a pedagogy, and it is an effective way to motivate deep learning.”
Originally built in 1961, Armstrong Hall currently houses three of the School of Engineering’s five departments: civil engineering, electrical/computer engineering, and integrative STEM Education (iSTEM), as well as the grant-funded Center for Excellence in STEM Education. Mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering are housed in the STEM Building, which opened in October 2017.
— David Pavlak, with reporting by Sarah Voorhees ’20