About the Polytechnic campus

Highlights of the Polytechnic campus

• The campus has approximately 86 buildings in use for academic programs and student services, including a new academic complex providing 245,000 square feet of additional office, classroom and instructional laboratory space. The complex received the LEED-Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, and at least one building incorporates a small array of solar panels to generate electricity for a seminar room.
  
  
• Students are globally engaged through programs like GlobalResolve, a social entrepreneurship initiative that works with developing economies to provide sustainable solutions using technology.
  
  
• The new Innovation and Technology Collaboratory takes the assets of the College of Technology and Innovation, like the Advanced Technology Innovation Center, K-12 programs and GlobalResolve, and provides an entry point or gateway for industry and the community to engage with the college.
  
  
• The City of Mesa and ASU are studying the feasibility of the Mesa Business Accelerator, which would provide entrepreneurs and researchers from the private sector and the university opportunities to develop innovative ideas into successful businesses.
  
  
• One of the most innovative engineering programs in the country exists at the Polytechnic campus. Students in these programs work on realistic design projects every semester in state-of-the-art engineering studios where they learn to innovate and apply engineering principles.
  
  
• New programs in business, gaming, and technological entrepreneurship & management are being rolled out in Spring and Fall 2011.
  
  
• As part of the education degree programs, Physical Education students are assisting in research studies to improve physical fitness and promote lifelong fitness skills in an effort to decrease juvenile diabetes.
  
  
• Unique research at the Polytechnic campus includes the work of scientists Milton Sommerfeld and Qiang Hu and their conversion of algal feedstock to fuel. For their efforts, they were recognized with the Innovator of the Year-Academia award at the 2009 Governor’s Celebration of Innovation, Arizona’s highest honor for technology innovation. The researchers were among a select group chosen as nominees for a 2009 World Technology Award by The World Technology Network (WTN), and TIME magazine selected the researchers’ work as one of the best innovations for 2008.
  
  
• The School of Letters and Sciences offers several programs at the Polytechnic campus, with the newest being a certificate in environmental humanities, which takes a humanities-based approach to exploring the relationship between human culture and the environment. The School also provides students an opportunity to run the online Superstition Review, a nationally prominent literary and art journal.

High-Tech Facilities at the Polytechnic campus

• Applied Biological Sciences students have access to state-of-the-art greenhouses and the Laboratory for Algae Research and Biotechnology, where researchers are converting algae into biofuels, as well as food supplements, and using algae in water remediation and to reduce carbon dioxide.
  
  
• The Cognitive Engineering Research on Team Tasks (CERTT) Lab conducts research on human factors like team issues in sociotechnical systems and on methodologies and approaches to collecting and analyzing data across different projects.
  
  
• Education students prepare to be excellent teachers and leaders by learning in fully equipped mathematics, science and computer labs, and they serve as interns and student teachers in local PreK-12th grade classrooms. In addition, the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College uses technology to deliver coursework to students who live in rural areas.
  
  
• An Electronic Market Trading Laboratory allows Agribusiness students to track commodities up to the minute.
  
  
• A Marketing Research Laboratory provides space for market research activities like focus groups and taste tests.
  
  
• A PING Swing Analysis Lab provides PGA Golf Management students with the technology to analyze their swing and help improve their golf skills and game. And a 12-acre Golf Driving Range and Pro Shop help students gain experience with managing and maintaining golf-related facilities.
  
  
• Pre-veterinary students attend classes in a Veterinary Teaching Theater, similar to a laboratory you would find at a veterinary school.
  
  
• Full-motion flight simulators and training devices help Professional Flight students prepare for careers as regional jet pilots with Mesa Air or other regional carriers.
  
  
• The Ottosen Air Traffic Control Simulation Lab provides Air Traffic Management students with simulators similar to the ones used at the FAA’s Air Traffic Control (ATC) Academy in Oklahoma City. The simulator is the only one in a higher education setting that has the control tower and radar simulation systems interfaced. Eventually, the ATC system could interface with flight simulators used by students in the Professional Flight program.
  
  
• The Del E. Webb Altitude Chamber Lab allows students to experience the physiological effect that oxygen deprivation has on the body.
  
  
• The Print & Imaging Lab provides students with project management and technical knowledge of the printing and digital media industries.
  
  
• The GIT Commercial Photography Studio is a contextual learning studio that covers all aspects of client photography, from advertising to industrial purposes, with an emphasis on the technology behind it all. It is an integral part of the commercial and technical imaging courses at the Polytechnic campus.
  
  
• A Clean Room Laboratory supports a variety of research, from the Center for Innovation in Medicine to wafer fabrication tools, integrated electronic systems, electronics packaging and testing equipment, and inspection equipment.
  
  
• Haas Technical Center is equipped with the tools that Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering students use to design and build prototypes for the aerospace, automotive and manufacturing industries.
  
  
• A Fuel Cell Laboratory provides Electronics Engineering students with a hands-on environment where they can design and build more efficient hydrogen fuel cells.
  
  
• Engineering Design Studios provide students with an environment that is conducive to project- and problem-based learning.
  
  
• Students have opportunities to work with entrepreneurs and small/medium-sized businesses to develop solutions through the Advanced Technology Innovation Center.
  
  
• The I3DEA Laboratory provides Computer Science students with a focus on imaging and 3-Dimensional (3D) data like face authentication and handwriting analysis.
  
  
• The Laboratory for Enterprise Application Development (LEAD) promotes applied research, teaching and industry outreach in the areas of distributed and Web-based applications, software engineering and open-source software. Current projects include the Image-guided Surgical Toolkit (IGSTK) project, Web search technologies, Web usability, and analytics.

More about the Polytechnic campus

• Campus Fast Facts
• Campus History