Latest Reports

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a widely used buzzword that refers to a rapidly growing network of internet-connected devices and sensors that transmit data back to a central repository for rapid analysis. This network generates massive amounts of information that can be used to maximize energy efficiency, optimize space use, reduce costs, and increase operational visibility across all types of facilities and organizations. LED lights with sensors, smart grid meters, intelligent HVAC and security systems, even mobile and body-worn devices, all generate tremendous amounts of data that both humans and computers can use to make better decisions.

Science education programs in the U.S. and Europe expect their graduates to be able to think analytically, solve problems creatively and collaboratively, and be critical consumers of information. To support their progress, they must have strategically planned buildings and an integrated curriculum. Universities in Dublin, Ireland, and Lexington, Kentucky, offer tangible examples of this evolution in science education.

While the drive to revamp engineering education continues to gather steam, the bold approach pioneered by the U.K.’s first new university in four decades is more revolutionary than evolutionary. Describing itself as “an unprecedented opportunity to inspire and teach a new generation of engineering talent,” New Model in Technology & Education (NMiTE) will debut with innovations such as a three-year degree program, unconventional admissions criteria, a mandate for gender balance, and a facilities design that won’t be finalized until students give it a trial run.

Vanderbilt University’s new Engineering and Science Building (ESB) brings the physical sciences and engineering together to expand interdisciplinary research in biomedical engineering, energy, and materials; recruit faculty in areas of nanotechnology and environmental engineering; and create a new undergraduate research-focused culture on campus.

Eli Lilly and Company embarked on a year-long process to create a new collaborative and flexible space model dubbed CoLAB. In order to achieve the flexibility they aim for, Lilly is employing the use of ceiling infrastructure and innovative fume hoods, the design of which ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of dollars. CoLAB’s purpose is to collocate previously separated groups into a new research campus, specifically stressing collaboration, innovation, and speed-to-market of new therapies. The initiative is designed to address constraints caused by both geographic separation and aging facilities in the Small Molecule Design and Development (SMDD) organization, the group that is responsible for the scale-up work that acts as the bridge between research and manufacturing.