Kummer Student Design Center Opens at Missouri University of Science and Technology

ST. LOUIS (Jun, 2011) - A former bread factory's transformation into a home for Missouri University of Science and Technology's award-winning design teams is complete.  On Friday, May 20, 2011, the university's new Kummer Student Design Center was formally dedicated.

The $2.75 million project was funded entirely through private gifts to the university, including a $1.25 million gift from Fred and June Kummer.  Fred Kummer, a 1955 civil engineering graduate of Missouri S&T, is President and CEO of St. Louis-based HBE Corp.

Missouri S&T's Kummer Student Design Center is a 23,000 square foot facility with retail space and room for the majority of the university's design teams.  Teams involved in the center include Advanced Aero Vehicle, Baja, Concrete Canoe, Engineers Without Borders, Formula SAE Racing, Human-Powered Vehicle, Solar Car, Solar House and Steel Bridge.

Missouri S&T has built a strong reputation among technological research universities for its student design team success.  S&T's solar car team has won two North American solar races - Sunrayce '99 and the 2003 North Americal Solar Challenge - and its human-powered vehicle team has won several East Coast and West Coast championships in recent years.  In 2009, Missouri S&T's Advanced Aero Vehicle Group was the top U.S. team in an international competition among student-designed and -built radio-controlled aircraft.

ABOUT HBE: 

HBE Corporation is the nation’s leading designer and builder of hospitals, including replacement hospitals and hospital renovations and additions.  The company has designed and built more than 1,100 hospitals in 49 states, and is ranked as the number one hospital design-build firm in the United States.  Headquartered in St. Louis, HBE is one of the largest privately held companies in the Midwest with a staff of 400 people including architects, engineers and construction professionals.