Purdue ECE celebrates generous gift to name EE building
Purdue University today (Sept. 9) held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the naming of the Electrical Engineering Building on campus as the Max W & Maileen Brown Family Hall (BHEE).
The naming is in recognition of a generous gift from Max W and Maileen Brown, and their children Max G, and Ash. Max W Brown is a 1970 Purdue graduate in electrical engineering. Max G and Ash also received degrees from Purdue.
“Today we not only celebrate Max W & Maileen Brown Family’s incredible leadership gift, but, through it, we reaffirm our joint commitment to continue educating engineers with the world-changing mindset that Purdue inspires to our students,” said Dimitrios Peroulis, the Michael and Katherine Birck Head of ECE. “We are filled with great gratitude to the Brown family for this window of opportunity to the future.”
Mark Lundstrom, interim dean of the College of Engineering and the Don and Carol Scifres Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, echoed the importance of the gift.
“We are deeply grateful for the continued support of Max and Maileen Brown, and their children,” he said. “Their generous gift will help to transform the Electrical Engineering Building by providing opportunities for current and future students to learn and grow in an exceptional facility.”
It’s the second time in the last few years the Browns have provided significant funding for the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In 2019, Max W and Maileen provided a gift that allowed for the renovation of the atrium in the Materials and Electrical Engineering Building (MSEE).
The Max W Brown Atrium is a gathering spot for students, with comfortable furniture for them to work on assignments, collaborate on team projects, or just relax and socialize. Brown hopes these gifts encourage other alumni to give.
“My EE degree was instrumental in why we are able to make this gift to modernize the historic EE building,” Brown said. “We are looking forward to seeing the improvements to the facility for the benefit of all Purdue students.”
Brown is the former owner of CET Limited, a Hong Kong manufacturer’s representative and distribution company centered on microprocessors and high-tech electronics representing United States companies in Hong Kong and Asia Pacific. He started his career as a single-chip designer for Texas Instruments and Mostek before pivoting to marketing and sales in the industry. He created some of the earliest metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) single-chip integrated circuits, including an eight-bit microprocessor, digital clock, and floating point calculator circuits.
Purdue’s School of Electrical Engineering was established in 1888. The program moved into the Electrical Engineering Building in 1924. The EE building received additions in 1932 and 1940, thanks to the generosity of Thomas Duncan, owner of nearby Duncan Electric Co. The building houses classrooms, lecture halls and lab facilities, as well as one of the largest lecture halls on campus, which is used by more than just electrical engineering classes.