The construction of Boston University’s Center for Computing and Data Sciences, which began in early Spring, has faced challenges due to the ongoing pandemic, causing delays and requiring adaptations.
The Center will be the new home for the Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering as well as several academic departments.
Walt Meissner, associate vice president for Operations, wrote in an email that the building should be completed by Fall of 2022 and fully operational by the Spring 2023 semester, and has so far remained a strategic priority of the University.
Meisser later said in an interview that the construction and planning team has managed to adapt to changes amid the pandemic.
“Overall, the team has responded extremely well,” Meisser said, “and kept things moving forward to the best of their ability and within the restrictions that they are required to follow.”
The hours of constructional operation, which ran from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. last semester, have remained unchanged, Meisser wrote.
“The schedule delay has been the biggest challenge,” Meisser wrote. “It has also required us to institute COVID protocols requiring workers to be cleared to work each day, have their temperatures taken, use masks and social distance.”
According to the most recent construction update released Friday, excavation and foundational work has begun, and concrete is expected to be poured next week.
Azer Bestavros, director of the Data Science Initiative and associate provost for Computing and Data Sciences, wrote in an email that global campaigns to deal with COVID-19 rely on advances in computing and data sciences.
“The extent to which CDS is front and Center in the fight against COVID-19,” Bestavros wrote, “has intensified the interest in opportunities for curricular and co-curricular programs that focus on data-driven discovery and innovation.”
The Center is expected to become a valuable addition to the BU academic scene and is “the latest commitment to data sciences by a university already acknowledged as a leader in this booming field,” according to the Campus Planning and Operations website.
Bestavros wrote that every field of study may depend on advances in computing.
“What profession today is not undergoing a transformation as a result of the computational and data-driven ways of thinking and ways of doing?” Bestavros wrote. “With every technological breakthrough … and with every grand challenge we are facing … the value of education and training in computing and data sciences has increased.”
Anika Utke, a senior in the College of Communication, wrote in an email that she wished COVID-19 had delayed construction even more since hearing the construction close to her dorm has been a “living hell.”
“I even had to buy a privacy adhesive for my windows so that I could open my windows without construction workers staring at me,” Anika wrote. “It would be one thing if BU provided a housing discount for all the trouble, but of course they wouldn’t.”
College of Arts and Sciences freshman Michael Walsh is a computer science major. He said he sees the new Center as a marker of how far computer science has come.
“It’s an almost official physical reminder that CS is kind of a new kid on the block when it comes to all the divisions of STEM,” Walsh said, “not just at BU, but also everywhere.”
