Students populated classrooms in the McVey Data Science building for the first time on Monday. Course attendance was accompanied by exploration, direction-seeking and approving remarks.
“Isn’t this crazy?” a passing professor asked a student on the second floor that morning. “There are people in here!”
“This is awesome!” she agreed.
For Owen Dossett, a junior data science and statistics and biomedical engineering double-major, the excitement was too much.
“I came before classes started,” he said. “I just, like, walked around with a friend and the entire building is really, really cool.”
Dossett’s data science courses still aren’t taught in McVey, but he assists with research in the building and hopes to spend more time with the new facilities in the near future.
Construction on the three-story structure full of steel, glass and gadgets began in October 2021 and was finished in January. Dr. Asaad Althoubi, an assistant professor in the computer science and software engineering department, said the building delivered on all the promises made in early models.
“It’s a great investment, this building,” Althoubi said.
Home to the departments of emerging technology in business and design (ETBD), statistics, computer science and software engineering, McVey Data Science will also host data-oriented events for the local community.