See renderings: Honeywell to invest $10M in UNC Charlotte with innovation hub
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Rendering of the Honeywell Innovation Hub at UNC Charlotte. Rendering: Page/Stantec; Courtesy of UNC Charlotte/Honeywell
Honeywell, a Charlotte-based industrial giant, will invest $10 million in UNC Charlotte for engineering and computing, the company announced Monday.
Why it matters: Honeywell's commitment will transform one of the campus' older buildings into the Honeywell Innovation Hub, provide scholarships to students and fund four new faculty positions.
- The innovation hub will include labs with state-of-the-art technology and spaces for STEM collaboration and research.
The big picture: The new innovation facility aligns with UNC Charlotte's efforts to bolster its research capabilities. Earlier this year, the university achieved R1 status from the Carnegie Classification, recognizing it as a top-tier research institution.
Zoom in: Six students were named Honeywell Scholars during Monday's campus announcement: Josiah Beatty, Caden Byers, Mikaria Hunt, Emily Jodka, Sushen Pattipati and Khameron Thomas.
- They will receive a combined $180,000 in scholarships.
- UNC Charlotte plans to name 48 Honeywell Scholars over the next decade.
Between the lines: Several students on the Honeywell Advisory Committee will help design the innovation hub, which is currently Burson Hall — a building that students describe as dated.
- The 155,000-square-foot renovated facility will house engineering labs and collaboration hubs, plus simulation spaces using Honeywell technology. More than $1 million of Honeywell's investment will go toward technology.
- Students have been consulted on everything from what they want the space to look like to the technology that will be in the building, Riley Hughes, a UNC Charlotte junior from Concord and member of the Honeywell Advisory Committee, tells Axios.
Zoom out: UNC Charlotte will begin offering a Bachelor of Science in artificial intelligence and a Master of Science in artificial intelligence next fall. The university will be one of two in the state offering an AI degree, along with North Carolina A&T State University, UNC Charlotte Chancellor Sharon Gaber says.
- AI will be a part of the Honeywell Innovation Hub, according to Honeywell Chairman & CEO Vimal Kapur.
- Hunt, a UNC Charlotte sophomore Honeywell Scholar from Laurinburg, N.C, hopes to become a video game developer and an AI creator. She says she wants to use AI to show people how to improve their health while playing video games.
What they're saying: Kapur says Honeywell has around 1,700 interns this year, and hired around two-thirds. The company now hopes to connect with young people even sooner.
What's next: The Honeywell Innovation Hub will break ground soon, according to Gaber. It will be complete in the next two to three years.
Take a look at the renderings and what Burson Hall looks like before its transformation.
