UMass Lowell invests in emerging technology

UMass Lowell today broke ground on a $70 million Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center, which will soon be home to research in fields including plastics engineering, nanotechnology, biomedicine and electro-optics. The center is scheduled to be completed in 2012. "The seeds of the next industrial revolution will be planted by the research conducted inside this building," UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan said at the groundbreaking, according to a news release from the university. Private donations will help make the facility a reality. Included on the list of donors are Mark and Elisia Saab of Lowell, who co-own medical tubing company Advance Polymers Inc. in Salem, N.H. The pair will donate $750,000 to the ETIC. The building will include:

• Critiical controls for temperature, humidity and vibration necessary for research;
• Cleanroom space, wet lab, engineering lab space and a plastics processing high bay;
• A plastics museum representing contributions to the industry by Massachusetts companies;
• An outdoor quad-style gathering space that mirrors the original Lowell Tech buildings;
• Meeting areas on each floor for use in collaborative efforts with industry, government and academic partners.