EDUCATION
High-Tech Center Planned for Illinois The University of Illinois is moving along with plans to build a major new "high-tech campus" in DuPage County, just west of Chicago. The Illinois Board of Higher Education has recommended $25 million in state funds to establish the campus and it appears likely that the legislature will go along with the recommendation. According to project director Irving F. Miller (who is also head of the chemical engineering department at UTs Chicago Circle campus), the new center should be in operation by the fall of 1993. DuPage County officials boast that the county is among the fastest growing industrial/technological areas in the U.S. Its population grew from about 450,000 in 1970 to 660,000 in 1980 and is projected to reach 920,000 by 2005. It ranks among the top 10 counties in the U.S. in terms of income and educational levels. Moreover, Miller points out, "It has Argonne National Laboratory at one end and Fermilab at the other. And in between, it has AT&T Bell Labs, the Amoco R&D center, the Nalco R&D center, a number of other major industrial R&D facilities, and some 22 technology-driven companies." What DuPage County has not had, in contrast to other high-tech enclaves such as California's Santa Clara County ("Silicon Valley") or Massachusetts' Middlesex County ("Route 128"), is the driving force of a major research university like Stanford or Harvard. The University of Illinois DuPage Center—as the new campus will be called—will fill that void, although it won't rank with Stanford or Harvard, at least not anytime soon. The recent site competition for the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) heightened interest in the project, especially for advanced training in disciplines related to high-energy physics. The UI DuPage campus was part of the "educational component" of Illinois' campaign
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Miller: multiuniversity concept for the SSC. "The SSC went to Texas," Miller relates, "but the university idea didn't." Current county needs go beyond physics, he says, covering computer science, advanced manufacturing methods, technical management, health care delivery, and educational technology, among other fields. UI, as "the leading comprehensive research university in the state," is responding to those needs, Miller says. With other institutions, including Northern Illinois University, Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University, it will establish a "multiuniversity center" that will offer continuing education courses at the graduate level in advanced science and technology. In addition, Miller says, there's a long history of research cooperation among the universities and the government and industry labs in the area. He notes that such research centers as the National Center for Supercomputer Applications, the Manufacturing Research Center, and the Institute for Competitive Manufacturing already are working with industries in the region. Thus, the plan also calls for a second component for the center, an Institute for Advanced Science, which would
provide a home for those centers and perhaps others. Miller notes that the planning committee is now looking at possible sites for the center, but no decision has been made. Ideally, he says, the county will donate the land. As now envisioned, the center will provide classroom space; facilities for conferences and short courses; offices for faculty and administrative staff; and such amenities as food service, parking, and, possibly, overnight accommodations for visiting faculty and researchers. The center would be equipped with such necessary equipment as computer network linkages and television, including satellite up- and downlinks, to allow direct participation by students at remote sites. One thing the center won't have, at least initially, is "wet" laboratories. Miller concedes that this will hamper the teaching of advanced chemistry courses, among others. It's a matter of money, he says. Estimating that 2500 sq ft of wet labs would cost maybe $1 million, he contends that at this stage there are simply more urgent things to do with the money. Not everyone goes along with the "multiuniversity center" concept. For example, IIT has been operating "IIT West" in leased facilities in DuPage County since 1986, offering part-time, mostly evening courses in computer science, electrical and mechanical engineering, and technical writing, as well a master of business administration program for technical managers. Last August it broke ground for a 54,000sq-ft permanent facility on a donated 20-acre site in Wheaton, the DuPage County seat. "The center is represented as a multiuniversity effort," says IIT vice president Edwin F. Stueben, "but it's really a UI effort. We doubt that there'll be much participation by faculty from other universities. As far as we're concerned, it's competition." Ward Worthy February 26, 1990 C&EN
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