Charlotte’s EPIC new building

UNC CHARLOTTE – Lights cut through the evening sky Tuesday, Jan. 26 on the campus at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, as school and local leaders came together to mark the start of construction on the Energy Production and Infrastructure Center.

Located in the northwestern corner of the university, the EPIC building will be a key step in UNCC’s push to become a leader in energy education and research at a time when many of the country’s engineers and technicians in the energy industry approach retirement age.

Beams of light shot into the air to symbolize each corner of the future 200,000-square-foot, while a weather balloon flew some 100 feet above the audience. Chancellor Philip Dubois and Dhiaa Jamil, chief nuclear officer of Duke Energy, addressed the crowd to talk about the newest $76-million piece of UNC Charlotte’s growing infrastructure.

The nation will soon need “the right people skilled in the right way” to meet growing energy needs, Dubois said, and the EPIC building will provide classrooms as well as state-of-the-art laboratory space to train the school’s electrical, computer, civil and environmental engineering students.

Jamil, who serves as chairman of the EPIC advisory board, finding engineers ready to work right out of school has proved a serious challenge, but “this university is the right place to solve that problem.”

State lawmakers already have allocated money to hire senior leadership and staff for the center, which could be completed as early as July 2011. “The bottom line is we have the talent,” said Bob Johnson, dean of the Lee College of Engineering, “and we plan to add more talent.”