News Briefing Today: UB to name new building for local businessman and his wife

What: UB will hold a brief news event today to announce the naming of its engineering school's new building after a prominent local industrialist and his wife, in honor of a multimillion-dollar gift from the couple, the largest gift by individuals to the school.

Who: The local businessman and his wife will be introduced to members of the media by Harvey G. Stenger, dean of the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

When: 2:30 p.m., today, Tuesday, Jan. 11

Where: At the new building's construction site, between Ketter and Jarvis halls, on UB's North Campus. Parking will be available on Putnam Way, as well as in and near the Ketter Hall parking lot, off White Road.

The event will take place on the building's construction site near Putnam Way, a service road running behind the campus' academic buildings and accessible from Hadley Road.

A map of the campus is available here:

http://www.buffalo.edu/buildings/maps/NorthCampus.pdf

About the new engineering building:

The exterior of the copper-colored new building is nearly complete. A live-cam view of the building is available at

http://www.buffalo.edu/ub2020/plan/phase2_webcams_eng.html#.

UB broke ground on the building in 2008, and construction is slated for completion in September 2011. Designed by Perkins+Will architects, the engineering building is a significant milestone in the UB 2020 strategic plan to transform UB into a premier 21st-century public research university.

The 130,000-plus-square-foot building will be home to departments and centers now scattered among several UB buildings, including computer science and engineering; electrical engineering; the Center of Excellence in Document Analysis and Recognition (CEDAR); and the Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors (CUBS).