About the Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center

Located on the corner of University Avenue and the VFW Highway, the 84,000 square-foot Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center (ETIC) will be a place where ingenuity meets industry. Situated at one end of a new bridge spanning the Merrimack River, it will serve as a gateway to UMass Lowell's North campus - the home of the sciences, engineering and business schools. In the facility, faculty and student researchers will engage with industry to meet their challenges and help improve people's lives in the region and the world.

Within its four stories, ETIC will provide core facilities for use in fundamental and translational research. The building design meets critical criteria for temperature, humidity, and vibration. It will house Class 100, Class 1000 and Class 10,000 cleanroom spaces, wet lab and engineering lab space, and a plastics processing high bay.

In addition to the atrium and lobby, meeting spaces on every floor will foster interdisciplinary interactions and collaborations with industry, government and other academic partners.

The green building, with a targeted LEED Silver Certification, will be a steel structure wrapped with a combination precast, metal panel and curtainwall exterior.

Joslin, Lesser+Associates is managing the construction project on behalf of the UMass Building Authority (UMBA), with Turner Construction Company serving as the general contractor. It is estimated that the project has supported 130 new jobs during the construction phase. It will be completed on time for the fall 2012 semester. Funding from the Commonwealth provided $35 million; the UMBA financed $25 million; and private and federal support covered the rest of the cost to build out the first two floors. A $10 million commitment from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center capital fund, along with corporate sponsorships, are expected to cover the costs of building out the 3rd and 4th floors.