Grissom Hall "Reinvention"

This Grissom Hall Reinvention was made possible with the help of many of our generous alumni.

Grissom Hall was "reinvented" during 2014-2015, as part of Purdue President Mitch Daniels' Purdue Moves effort, which includes expansion of Purdue Engineering as one of its major priorities.  Grissom Hall's reinvention is also one phase of the College of Engineering Strategic Growth Initiative project, an effort to integrate increasing undergraduate and graduate enrollments, new faculty hires and encourage collaboration. During construction, the 1906 building was gutted down to its brick walls, then rebuilt to purposefully meet the needs of today's industrial engineering faculty and students.

"The new Grissom will revolutionize how our students work, collaborate and study," said Abhijit Deshmukh, James J. Solberg Head and Professor of Industrial Engineering.

The repurposed space includes a striking visual focal point for the building and the school - the Peter Wang Student Excellence Center on the first floor. The majority of the changes add light and improve space usage, particularly with a "hot desking" style of desk sharing for graduate and undergraduate students. With this system, more students are able to use the available space and collaboration is facilitated.

The new space also includes electronic interactive whiteboards in classrooms; image-capturing equipment that automatically transcribes lecture notes to Internet-accessible documents; and updated lecture rooms, classrooms, laboratories, meeting spaces, and faculty and staff offices. Adding LED lights, better insulation, improved electrical systems and windows that allow for increased natural light make the building more energy efficient.

The building is named for the late Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts and the second American to fly in space.