Marshall University President Brad D. Smith, right, presents Joan Weisberg, wife of the late Arthur Weisberg, with a framed engraving of the Weisberg Engineering Complex during a ceremony marking the facilityÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s 10th anniversary on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Huntington. The engraving was made at the Marshall Advanced Manufacturing Center.
Marshall University President Brad D. Smith, right, speaks with Louis Weisberg, son of the late Arthur Weisberg, during a ceremony marking the facilityÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s 10th anniversary on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Huntington.
Martha and Louis Weisberg, daughter and son of the late Arthur Weisberg, speak during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Arthur Weisberg Family Applied Engineering Complex on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Huntington.
Marshall University President Brad D. Smith, right, presents Joan Weisberg, wife of the late Arthur Weisberg, with a framed engraving of the Weisberg Engineering Complex during a ceremony marking the facilityÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s 10th anniversary on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Huntington. The engraving was made at the Marshall Advanced Manufacturing Center.
Marshall University |
Courtesy photos
Marshall University President Brad D. Smith, right, speaks with Louis Weisberg, son of the late Arthur Weisberg, during a ceremony marking the facilityÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s 10th anniversary on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Huntington.
Marshall University | Courtesy photo
Martha and Louis Weisberg, daughter and son of the late Arthur Weisberg, speak during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Arthur Weisberg Family Applied Engineering Complex on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Huntington.
HUNTINGTON ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” Students, staff faculty and the namesake family celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Arthur Weisberg Family Applied Engineering Complex at Marshall University on Monday.
Arthur Weisberg was a regional business leader and major benefactor of Marshall who died in 2012. He founded State Electric Supply Company and Service Wire Company.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œWe felt that the engineering program would help Marshall University to become a leading university. We are fortunate to see the success of Marshall's applied engineering degree and applied engineering programs,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ said Joan Weisberg, Arthur Weisberg's wife.
During a ceremony Monday, university President Brad D. Smith presented her with a framed engraving of the engineering complex made at the Marshall Advanced Manufacturing Center.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œI can tell you that your family has transformed Marshall University," Smith said during his speech. "Art's dream of renewal is coming true because Huntington is absolutely coming back strong. I believe Art would be smiling proudly if he could see how this commitment has already given birth to so many new opportunities.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥
The 152,000-square-foot facility is on 3rd Avenue next to the Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Center. All undergraduate and graduate engineering and computer sciences programs are housed within the complex.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œI think we play quite a significant role, especially considering how many engineering firms we have around this place. It's really important that we have a good solid structure because we have pretty much 100% (job) placement," said Arka Chattopadhyay, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. "Anyone who graduates finds a job instantly, right? So it's kind of our responsibility to make (students) ready for this field.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥Â
The engineering complex was the first building on the Huntington campus to have LEED certification, a designation recognizing "green" buildings that provide environmental and social benefits.
Joe Fuller, former associate professor who is now an adjunct professor of computer science, said the facility was needed in southern West Virginia, because previously engineering education had been concentrated in Morgantown.
The Weisberg facility features laboratory functions with traditional wet bench biological sciences, dry technology development laboratories and applied engineering laboratories such as high-bay advanced materials testing, as well as traditional classrooms and offices. It also serves as the home of the Marshall University Research Corporation.
David Dampier, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Sciences at Marshall, highlighted some of the ways in which the school has grown. Since the building opened in fall 2015, enrollment in the college has gone up by 23%, and since the COVID-19 pandemic, itÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s grown 31%.
It also became a designated R2 research institution. In the last five years, it has grown research expenditures from about $500,000 a year to over $6 million a year. ItÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s entering the second year of Marshall's first Ph.D. program outside of the School of Medicine and currently has 12 active students. Approximately 75% of the faculty are funded by research projects.
