Editing Jonsson Engineering Center (section)

=History=
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).


[[File:JecOPening.png|link=https://digitalassets.archives.rpi.edu/do/308652ab-7811-491c-97ca-a402b9e7fff6#page/7/mode/2up| JEC Opening graphic from October 12th, 1977 edition of the Polytechnic]]

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