SIAT + SFU Surrey expanding to Podium 2

posted: january 4. 2010

This article by Terry Lavender and is in it's original form here: http://www.surrey.sfu.ca/news/Additionalspacewelcome.html

A $10-million Knowledge Infrastructure Program grant to Simon Fraser University’s Surrey campus announced by the provincial and federal government will add another 5,000 square metres of teaching classrooms and specialized Science and research labs to the existing space at the award-winning Central City campus in Surrey's City Centre.

SFU President Michael Stevenson and Surrey-Tynehead MLA Dave Hayer officially unveiled the new space at the Surrey campus on December 11. The new facilities will be completed by 2011.

SFU Surrey Executive Director Curry says the grant is a vital next step in the campus's growth. "It will allow us to accelerate research and support undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education students in the high demand programs at SFU Surrey. With the support of partners such as the City of Surrey, the Surrey Board of Trade, and the Downtown Surrey Business Improvement Association, we will look to maximize both the short- and long-term economic development impacts of this welcomed knowledge infrastructure investment."

The new space will be used for classrooms and teaching labs for a variety of programs, including biology, chemistry, health sciences, mechatronics and criminology.

Research facilities at SFU Surrey will be expanded, with the creation of state-of-the-art labs in areas such as visual analytics, mechatronics and cybercrime. Student entrepreneurs at SFU will also benefit from the expansion of the Venture Connection program that assists students with the development of spin-off companies to market the products and services they create.

Established in 2002, Simon Fraser University Surrey is one of three Simon Fraser University campuses. In 2006 SFU Surrey moved into its current home in the Central City mixed use retail, office, and university complex designed by Bing Thom & Associates . The campus offers over 30 degree programs in applied sciences, arts and social sciences, business administration, communication, art, and technology, education, mathematics, and science, as well as credit and non-credit continuing education courses and programs. More than 5,300 students attend classes at the campus, with that number expected to grow to double over the next 10 years with further investment in facilities and student spaces.

SFU Surrey’s research base has continued to expand with recent announcements of projects in visual analytics with Boeing Company and a Canada Research Chair in Multidisciplinary and Multimedia Arts. SFU Surrey students have excelled in international awards and competitions including student awards for a solar house project in the international solar decathlon and a student-designed game placing in TIME magazine's top 10 electronic games in 2008. Planned areas of research expansion include health and energy engineering.