FIU to break ground on engineering building that will promote research, innovative learning and job creation

Florida International Univeristy (FIU) is expanding its College of Engineering and Computing campus with the groundbreaking of a new 125,000 square-foot, six-story building that will house makerspace labs, active learning classrooms and research laboratories on FIU’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus.

The new multidisciplinary facility is designed to better prepare the next generation of engineering and computing professionals as part of an effort to help graduate more engineers and expand innovation in Miami and throughout the state.

The LEED Certified Gold building will feature 20,000 square feet of interactive research and teaching space with best-in-class computing and prototyping equipment for advancements in the fields of cybersecurity, nanotechnology drug delivery and environmental resilience.

The $48.4 million facility will be constructed near the corner of Southwest 8th Street and Southwest 107th Avenue thanks in large part to a state legislative appropriation of $39 million and additional philanthropic and research funding. Technology in the building will be enhanced with private funds, including part of a $10 million gift from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

FIU’s College of Engineering and Computing is home to nearly 8,000 engineering and computing students, including more than 1,000 graduate students. In 2020, the college graduated nearly 2,000 engineers and computer scientists. The college was ranked No. 1 in the U.S. in awarding bachelor’s degrees to Hispanic students and No. 6 in awarding bachelor’s degrees to African Americans by the American Society for Engineering Association (ASEE) in 2020.

The engineering expansion will position FIU to graduate an additional 350 engineers each year, create 550 jobs in South Florida, increase research spending by $30 million a year, and result in 27 additional patent applications per year.