It’s clear to me that progress in the 21st century is going to be defined by our ability to engineer material and structures at the nanoscale level. That’s why I am very excited about Wilsdorf Hall, which opened its doors November 10, 2006.

Faculty members across the Engineering School have been involved for a number of years in efforts to manipulate the fundamental building blocks of matter to develop new materials, new structures and new devices. Research at the nanoscale has greatly expanded our understanding of the properties of materials and enabled us to create new materials with unique properties. Advances in electronic devices are being made by “growing” structures at the molecular level to form complicated and dense computing devices. In a related area, our work on catalyst design is setting the stage for next-generation energy sources. We built Wilsdorf Hall to give our faculty a facility that reflects the ambitious nature of their work.

Truly an amazing building, Wilsdorf Hall is the product of intense collaboration between our faculty and the building’s architects and engineers. The result: a state-of-the-art facility with advanced systems to suppress vibration, shield laboratories from electrical and magnetic fields and manage airflow.

But Wilsdorf Hall is much more than just a building. It’s a fantastic opportunity — for existing faculty to do the research they’ve long dreamed of doing, for the School to attract the best new faculty and the most promising graduate students in the country and for the University to make its mark as a world-class leader in science and engineering.

Ultimately, though, Wilsdorf Hall is a reflection of our success in building community. In the past, buildings like this were funded by the state. Now they’re created only when we enlist the support of people who feel passionate about the Engineering School and about the potential of the work being done here. I can’t say enough about the foresight and generosity of donors, such as Greg Olsen and the Matthews family, who honor the past by funding a one-of-a-kind facility that will provide generations of faculty members and students with the equipment and space they need to be successful in new and existing engineering fields.

Seen in this light, the Capital Campaign, which we officially launched at the end of September, is a challenge to go even further — to find new and innovative ways to strengthen our faculty, students and academic programs; to fund exciting new facilities for research and education such as Wilsdorf Hall; and, most of all, to enlarge and expand the Engineering School community.

No matter where your career has led you, I know that your life has been touched by your time at the University and by pioneering faculty members such as the Wilsdorfs. I invite you to take a more active role in shaping our future. By working together, sharing ideas and resources, we can achieve ever more ambitious aspirations for the School and for future students who pass through its halls.

JAMES H. AYLOR
Louis T. Rader Professor
Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science