Special Needs

While initial requirements for research space will be modest, with much of the research activity taking place in laboratories and using equipment with dual use capabilities for both teaching and research, it can be expected that space requirements in terms of laboratories, offices, and general work space will expand with the growth of the research and technology services offerings of the university.
It is therefore important to identify and set aside in the short term adequate space for the General Research Center. Because they also exist to serve the internship and practical experience needs of students, the Community Design Resource Center and the Information Technology Resource Center will be housed in their respective academic buildings. Because it will involve both male and female students, the IT center will be housed on both the male and female sections of the PMU campus. The design center, which will involve only female students, will be housed on the female section of the campus.
Space designated for the General Research Center initially will remain flexible and expandable to meet the needs of this growing enterprise. The space must be outfitted with appropriate infrastructure support, including research ventilation hoods, liquid nitrogen, various research gases and expendables (oxygen, nitrogen, argon, among others), chemical storage units, computer equipment and data /storage modules/servers, and other equipment as required. Initially the General Research Center will be co-located with or near the academic laboratories within the colleges of engineering or information technology. Because of the need to work closely with existing businesses, it is anticipated that the center will be located on the male sector of the campus.
Eventually, it can be expected that additional centers will evolve in accordance with the strategic planning of the university and as research and technology requirements are identified and successfully funded through partnerships and collaboration with industry and others.
Potential future centers of research that may evolve with time include:

• Center for Refining and Petrochemicals
• Center for Petroleum and Minerals
• Center for Environment Issues
• Center for Engineering Research
• Center for Business and Management
• Center for Communications and Technology

Facilities and instrumentation associated with the College of Engineering and the College of Information Technology that will have potential relevance to research will include but will not be limited to:

Civil Engineering

• Soil testing (chemical and mechanical) equipment
• Cement characterization (chemical and mechanical)
• Hydrological software and testing
• Geotechnical engineering software and testing equipment

Mechanical Engineering:

• Tensile and compression testing machines (10-20,000 kilograms)
• Fracture testing (Charpy v-notch)
• Fatigue testing (dynamic tensile and compression testing
• Corrosion
• Metallograph and optical microscopes for materials structural evaluation
• NDE analyzers
• CAD/CAM software
• Pressure and fluids measurement

Electrical Engineering:

• Combustion engine analyzer, power, fuel consumption and related equipment
• 50 W dual output power supply
• Power generation and transmission testing equipment
• Circuit power transformers
• Power transformers
• Current generator and motor characteristics
• Three-phase induction motors
• Two channel, 100 MHz oscilloscopes
• Two channel FFT dynamic signal analyzers
• LCR meters
• Universal frequency counters
• Wave form generators
• Communication and signal processing equipment

Information Science and Technology:

• Servers, for example: Power Edge 4600, Sun E450/E250, Dell Precision
• Networking infrastructure
• Data storage hardware and software
• Workstations: for example: Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz or greater, Sun Ultra 5, and other computational units as required

Additional detail and information related to academic laboratory requirements is contained in the reports Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum Designs and Undergraduate Information Technology and Computer Science Programs.