Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1962 [PAGE 1419]

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1416

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[April 18

The agencies involved have indicated their intent to contract over a ten-year period to meet the costs of the building construction, with the result that the University would receive a total of $5,000,000 for this purpose. It is ir'tended to negotiate contracts providing operating funds and moveable equipment to be housed in facilities presently available for three years during the period of construction and thereafter in the new building. Although it is not legally possible for the agencies involved to enter into binding contracts for the entire ten-year period, they have indicated their intent to provide all the required funds and to contract as far in advance as possible so that by the seventh year after completion of the building, the required sum will be fully committed. Accordingly, the University plans to borrow or to acquire otherwise funds to construct and equip the building, and will repay the loan from the amounts under the contracts or from other funds available to it if the contracts are discontinued. The University will furnish the site and utility connections. Interest on outstanding indebtedness will be paid by the University from funds available to it from other sources, chiefly contract operations, than state appropriations. It is intended that the University will receive outright title to the building upon the completion of tht debt repayment program. The science of materials is basic for large areas of engineering technology. Progress in electrical, chemical, metallurgical, and ceramics industries is dependent to a great degree upon the basic research that leads to the improvement of materials essential to these industries. Certain aspects of research in materials in the University can be combined with the systematic education of graduate students to carry on the advancement and dissemination of knowledge in this field. The University of Illinois is one of the principal academic centers in the United States devoted to research and education in the science of materials. A feature of the proposed new program will be its interdisciplinary nature drawing initially from five departments: Ceramic Engineering; Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; Electrical Engineering; Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum Engineering; and Physics. The University has distinguished faculties in these departments and the proposed laboratory will enable them to collaborate their work on problems in a manner that is not feasible at present. The additional space provided by this facility will permit an approximate doubling of research on the basic properties of materials at the University and of the numbers of scientists that it can train through graduate education in this field. The results of the research and the men trained to carry on research will be available to the industrial and government laboratories of Illinois and of the nation, thus advancing industrial progress and promoting national welfare. Authorization is hereby requested from the Board of Higher Education of Illinois to contract with the Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Atomic Energy Commission, or with other agencies of the United States Government, according to the plan substantially described herein, for the construction and operation of this facility. T h e Committee on Buildings and Grounds concurs in the recommendation for approval of the proposed plan for the construction of the building and its use for contract research sponsored by the federal government, and the submission of this plan to the Board of Higher Education for approval. O n m o t i o n of M r . P o g u e , t h i s p r o j e c t w a s a p p r o v e d , a s recomm e n d e d , a n d n e g o t i a t i o n s w e r e a u t h o r i z e d , s u b j e c t t o final a p p r o v a l by t h e I l l i n o i s B o a r d of H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n . T h i s a c t i o n w a s t a k e n by the f o l l o w i n g v o t e : A y e , M r . C l e m e n t , M r . D i l l i a r d , M r . H a r e w o o d , Mr. H u g h e s , M r . J o h n s t o n , M r . P o g u e , M r . S w a i n , M r s . W a t k i n s , Mr. Wilkins, M r . Williamson; no, n o n e ; absent, M r . K e r n e r . The Housing and Home Finance Agency has funds available which can be advanced for planning public works such as the Materials Research Laboratory. T h e advance bears no interest and is repayable out of the construction funds for a given project. If the project does not go forward, there is no obligation to repay the planning money. It is therefore further recommended that applies tion be made to the Housing and Home Finance Agency for planning money for the Materials Research Laboratory and that the following resolution be adopted.