As Boston University prepares to break ground on a new 19-story, 345,000 square-foot Center for Computing & Data Sciences on Commonwealth Avenue, I am writing to invite your participation in a town hall meeting on Tuesday, October 22, at 4 pm in the GSU Auditorium, 775 Commonwealth Avenue to discuss the details of this project and its anticipated impacts.
This dynamic new building, which will house the newly created Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences, the College of Arts & Sciences departments of Computer Science and Mathematics & Statistics, and the Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering, will have a transformative effect on both the look and feel of the Charles River Campus and our capacity for collaboration and creation in this rapidly growing field. We have received the necessary permits from the City of Boston and approval from our Board of Trustees, and plan to begin construction early in spring 2020.
Construction of this scale, of course, does not occur in a vacuum. While we have taken steps to limit inconveniences and environmental impacts, we do anticipate some disruptions over the next two years – from noise and dust to altered pedestrian routes and parking limitations. We are committed to keeping this process as open and transparent as possible and to answering any questions or concerns you have about the project, the many innovations and enhanced capabilities it will bring to BU, and the impact it will have on University life, both in the immediate and long term.
The town hall meeting on October 22 will provide one opportunity to begin these important conversations. The event will include presentations from the building’s architects, University space planning and sustainability representatives, and University leadership, and will provide plenty of time for audience Q&A. I hope to see many of you there as we begin this conversation about the future of data science research at Boston University and the evolving shape of our campus. |
