During a meeting at the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne campus, the Purdue University Board of Trustees awarded a $19.4 million construction contract to Kettlehut Construction Inc. of Lafayette, IN, to build the new Biomedical Engineering Building. Purdue issued bonds to cover $13 million of the project's $25 million cost. The remaining $12 will come from private sources, including $5 million from the Whitaker Foundation.

The Biomedical Engineering Building - the first at any public institution in Indiana - will enable Purdue to expand the current Department of Biomedical Engineering into a full-fledged school. The first undergraduate biomedical engineering class will begin as sophomores in the fall 2004 semester, and the graduate program will be expanded. About 20 full-time faculty members will be added to the department's current six faculty.

"These capital investments will allow us to provide better service to our students more efficiently," said Kenneth P. Burns, executive vice president and treasurer. "Keeping our campus up-to-date with state-of-the-art facilities and modern infrastructure is also important for our research efforts that benefit both the State of Indiana and society in general."

Source: Purdue University News Service, http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html3month/2004/040604.BOT.facilities.html