Open / Close Advertisement

Colorado School of Mines Receives Major Private Investment for New Research Facility

The investment is the latest development in a multigenerational partnership between CoorsTek and the university, focused on solving global challenges through innovation and shared technical expertise.
 
At just under US$27 million, the investment by CoorsTek and the Coors family is the largest single private commitment in Mines' 140-year history. It is funding the expansion of a longstanding academic, research and career opportunity partnership between CoorsTek and Mines, highlighted by the establishment of the CoorsTek Research Fellows Program and a range of high-tech equipment purchases, including one of the most advanced electron microscopes in the United States. CoorsTek's and the Coors family's funding, in conjunction with a US$14.6 million grant from the state of Colorado, enables the construction of the 95,000-square-foot CoorsTek Center for Applied Science and Engineering, a world-class facility that will support a broad range of academic and research activities on the Mines campus as well as serve as a focal point for the CoorsTek-Mines research partnership.
 
"A measurably better world will come from the amazing solutions that advances in engineered ceramics and engineered materials make possible," said Dr. John Coors, chairman, president and CEO of CoorsTek. "In order for that to happen, we need more scientists and engineers trained in state-of-the-art facilities by expert faculty, and more opportunities to collaborate with the brightest researchers. For CoorsTek, our investment in Mines is not only an investment in the future of our company and a great university – it's an investment in solving global challenges in energy, transportation, information technology, the environment and the quality of human life itself. This partnership between CoorsTek and the Coors family, the state of Colorado and Colorado School of Mines is not about a building. It's about something much more. It's about connecting students, researchers, faculty and industry to impact the world in ways that we can't even predict today."
 
"With this extraordinary commitment, CoorsTek is laying the groundwork for an integral campus landmark and dynamic hub of rich intellectual exchange," said Mines President Bill Scoggins. "Their involvement will accelerate the strategic integration of some of our most fundamental areas of expertise across disciplines to address complex issues shaping our global future, and we couldn't be more honored to work with them on this historic initiative."
 
The CoorsTek Center will support the College of Applied Science and Engineering and the highly collaborative partnerships between its four departments and two interdisciplinary programs: the Department of Chemistry and Geochemistry, the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, the Department of Physics, the Materials Science Program, and the Nuclear Science and Engineering Program. The college attracts US$24 million in research funding annually, including support for nationally known centers such as the Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center, the Colorado Center for Advanced Ceramics, the Colorado Fuel Cell Center, and the Renewable Energy Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, and has a physics program ranked 5th nationally in the number of bachelor's degrees granted.
 
Planning for the CoorsTek Center is now underway. Building features will include flexible laboratories, customizable classrooms for hands-on learning, and centralized teaching and research space. The facility will be located on and around the site of the current physics building, Meyer Hall, at 15th and Arapahoe streets in Golden.

 

CoorsTek makes the world measurably better as the partner of choice for technology and manufacturing companies worldwide whose success requires the unique, high-performance properties of products manufactured from engineered ceramics and advanced materials. CoorsTek products and components touch people's lives through amazing solutions to global challenges in energy, transportation, information technology, healthcare and defense, among others.
 
Colorado School of Mines is a small, focused and collaborative public research university with a global reach, engaging innovative thinkers who are working to solve the world's most pressing challenges. Mines has an international reputation for excellence in engineering education and the applied sciences with special expertise in the development and stewardship of the earth's resources. Learn more at www.mines.edu.