Research building proposed at NTID

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Rendering by HBT Architects

NTID announces new lab and innovation center.

NTID Interim President James DeCaro announced plans for a new two-story building to be constructed connecting the southwest corner of the Dining Commons to the residence halls.

The 23,000-square-foot facility will be dedicated for scholarship and research and will house several research centers and major project labs. And it will provide a large space for faculty, staff and student collaboration on innovation and entrepreneurial projects.

“In the forefront of everything we do at NTID is the belief that our job is to give our students the skills and experiences they need so that upon entering today’s innovation-based economy, they cannot be denied,” DeCaro says. “The NTID Imagination Hall is essential in achieving this goal.”

The $8 million needed to construct the building will be raised from private donors, corporations and foundations.

The building will specifically engage deaf and hard-of-hearing students at associate degree levels, along with faculty and corporate partners, in the innovation process. It also will help those graduates who enroll in NTID’s seven transfer degree programs in other colleges of RIT. Projects envisioned for the center relate to health care technology and services, development of access and instructional technology and cross-disciplinary projects involving science, engineering and business.

The building is scheduled for completion in time for the 2013-14 academic year.