These are exciting times at the Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. School of Engineering. We're preparing our students for technological leadership in an increasingly global society by providing a rigorous engineering education within the context of a great liberal arts university. We're pursuing state-of-the-art research in pivotal disciplines that are revolutionizing the way we live and work. And we're assembling all of the elements necessary to become a renowned center of engineering excellence.
A Pratt engineering education gives our graduates the ability to integrate knowledge to improve the human condition and the environment; to contribute to the economic diversity of our society; to lead multidisciplinary teams with various backgrounds; to provide unique expertise and skills in the selected discipline; to possess strong persuasive and logical communications skills; and to model and adhere to the highest engineering and business ethics. Our vision for 2010 and beyond is designed to dramatically enhance our ability to fulfill our educational mission through a dynamic, carefully planned expansion of our intellectual and physical infrastructures.
Anchoring this ambitious vision are three strategic academic and research initiatives that build on our strengths across the departments in bioengineering, photonics and communications, and materials and materials systems. We are also developing an array of complementary, department-based focus programs such as environmental engineering, high-performance computing structures, and entrepreneurship. Because complex new technologies demand multidisciplinary approaches, these initiatives will require extensive cross-disciplinary collaboration with our colleagues in the School of Medicine, Nicholas School of the Environment, Fuqua School of Business, and Trinity College of Arts and Sciences.
The Fitzpatrick Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering and Applied Sciences is a major force behind Pratt Vision 2010. This 320,000-square-foot, $97-million facility is supplying the sophisticated infrastructure required for rigorous education and advanced research, within a vibrant environment attractive to the nation's brightest faculty and students and conducive to creative "collisions" of ideas and insights. Thanks to landmark gifts from alumni Edmund T. Pratt, Jr., Michael and Patricia Fitzpatrick, and Jeffrey Vinik, and from Alston Gardner (son of William H. Gardner, Jr. E'45), we are on our way to realizing our vision—and making Pratt a national leader in engineering education and research.
We will make a difference. You can, too. So please join us in making our vision a reality. The excitement is just beginning.