By Lee Roop | [email protected]
Ask people how to find the new Auburn University Research and Innovation Campus in Huntsville and you might get an answer like this: “You can’t miss it.” Auburn’s new Huntsville home stands out even in Cummings Research Park, which bills itself as the country’s second-largest research and technology park with 300 companies and 26,000-plus employees.
Tech company LogiCorp. originally acquired the 9 acres of land and erected the building Auburn now occupies at 345 Voyager Way. Now, Auburn has big plans for the land and 40,000 square feet of ultra-modern space. A mini-campus with more buildings is coming, Auburn says, and this is just the start.
“We know that Huntsville is ‘a’ if not ‘the’ center of tech today in Alabama … so university leadership felt like we had to have a greater presence there,” Auburn Interim Engineering Dean Steve Taylor said in January.
Huntsville is the post-graduation destination of most Auburn engineering students, Taylor said, and research done in the city by Auburn graduates is growing. Auburn needed a bigger and better presence, Taylor said.
The campus will be a new home for Auburn in the area and connect its educational, outreach and extension programs. And it looks like it will be busy. This spring, the College of Architecture, Design and Construction will host a recruiting event for new students; the Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) Lab will host an event; the College of Veterinary Medicine will host an event focusing on detection dogs; the College of Engineering will host a graduate research symposium and the College of Business will host a graduation ceremony for online students from the area.