Jonsson Engineering Center
Introduction[edit]
Residing on the south end of the '86 Field and located between the Darrin Communications Center and the Greene Building, the Jonsson Engineering Center (JEC), is home to the RPI School of Engineering. Finished in 1977, the building is dedicated to J. Erik Jonsson, who graduated from RPI in 1922 and was the co-founder of Texas Instruments. Jonsson made a donation of $2.6 million towards the final cost of $17.8 million.
History[edit]
The JEC was part of a massive renovation project, The Rensselear 2000 plan, that the university was undertaking in order to upgrade various office spaces and replace the aging engineering facilities at the school. The JEC. When a plan for a new building announced in February of 1974, the local architecture firm Levatich, Miller & Hoffman provided an in depth analysis of the surrounding buildings. Based off of this analysis, RPI was presented with the option to either demolish the existing Troy Building and construct a new building, or to link the Russell Sage Laboratory and the Ricketts Building together. Ultimately the first option was chosen, with the hope that the building would allow activities to move from the older West Hall, Carnegie, and Pittsburgh Buildings to more modernized buildings.
On August 15, 1977 the first residents of the JEC began to move in, this was about 2 weeks earlier than initial expected(8). William Winslow stated that the JEC was "the first (building) in a long time to open on time" (The Polytechnic September 7, 1977, Pg1). Windsow also predicted that by the 15th of September that year most of the faculty and labs would have moved into the JEC. Windslow also stated that a regional strike halted construction on the JEC for most of July. in October of 1977 an opening banquet was held in the high bay of the JEC(9).
(10)
Ground Breaking[edit]
The ground breaking took place on April 18, 1975. In a change from traditional ceremonies, it was started with an underground explosion and triggered by a long distance phone call from Mrs. Jonsson, who was in Dallas Texas; the ground breaking ceremony would latter be referred to as dial a bomb (4).During construction, the '86 Field was called the '43 field due to the fact that half of the field was used as a staging area. A formal dedication of the JEC took place on October 7, 1977.
Modern Day[edit]
Today the JEC is still home to the Engineering department. The building is 7 stories high and has 2 elevators. Each floor holds different disciplines within engineering. For instance, the 5th floor is for aeronautical engineering and the 4th floor is for civil engineering. The JEC contains a subsonic wind tunnel and several laboratories, including the mechatronics lab and the geotechnical centrifuge research center, home to the nation's third largest academic centrifuge. The building also houses the Engineering hub and the OT Swanson Multidisciplinary Design Lab, which is where various capstone and project based classes take place.
The JEC is home to the Haas Technical Education Center (HTEC) (5). the HTEC is home to multiple HASS mills and lathes, as well as a paint booth and general manufacturing equipment. this facility is also part of the Manufacturing Innovation Learning Laboratory (MILL) which has other facilities in the LOW building. Students are able to use the manufacturing equipment in HTEC for making prototypes of their capstone and IED projects as well as for manufacturing parts for student clubs. students are also given the opportunity to learn how to operate the HASS CNC equipment as part of a computer aided machining class. Students taking Computer aided machined learn how to program CNC mills and lathes by manufacturing small train (6).
The student Machine shop is located on the first floor (7). The student machine shop is mainly used by engineering students take engineering processes. In engineering processes students learn about basic manufacting using the mill and lathe, popular projects for Engineering processes (engr-1300) are a mini canon, a mini train and in recent semesters a mini lightsaber. the student machine shop is also open to students for general prototyping and manufacting for club related activities.
Trivia[edit]
-The JEC is connected to the DCC and JROWL via underground pedestrian tunnels.
-There is a steam engine on display in the 2nd floor lobby of the JEC.
-Rensselear Motorsport (RPI's FSAE team) has their 2004 car on display in the 2nd floor lobby. it is mounded to the wall. it was powered by a 4 cylinder Honda f4i engine.
- There is a statue of Erik Jonsson on a bench outside of the JEC near the 2nd floor entrance.
References[edit]
1. https://archives.rpi.edu/institute-history/building-histories/jonsson-engineering-center
2. https://poly.rpi.edu/opinion/2020/01/tech-problems-at-a-tech-school/
3. https://pocketsights.com/tours/place/JErik-Jonsson-Engineering-Center-1068:206 4. https://web.archive.org/web/20070927225448/http://www.deltos.com/reference/not-handbook/NtRH.html 5. https://manufacturing.eng.rpi.edu/facilities/design-lab 6. https://assessment.rpi.edu/index.cfm/page/AefisCourseSection.SyllabusForm?courseSectionId=13590 7. https://manufacturing.eng.rpi.edu/facilities/jecshop 8. https://digitalassets.archives.rpi.edu/do/e406d9fd-cbe4-42ff-8355-afe2d4c6ac38#page/4/mode/2up 9. https://digitalassets.archives.rpi.edu/do/0460b9d6-ec0d-4d94-a8f2-8ce1f45e8fe8#mode/2up 10. https://digitalassets.archives.rpi.edu/do/308652ab-7811-491c-97ca-a402b9e7fff6#page/7/mode/2up