The MSOE community, elected officials and business representatives celebrated the groundbreaking for the new Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall. The $34 million facility has been funded by a donation from MSOE Regent and alumnus Dr. Dwight Diercks and his wife, Dian.  

“MSOE will set the standard for preparing leaders to solve the diverse technical challenges of the 21st century,” said Dr. John Walz, MSOE president. “There is no doubt that this facility, along with the educational program and partnerships that result from it, will put us well on the way to reaching that vision.”  

“MSOE has excelled for over 100 years at applying engineering expertise to the latest-and-greatest engineering breakthroughs,” said Dr. Diercks. “This university has delivered great engineering minds, leaders and entrepreneurs who have delivered some of the best technological products and services to turbo-charge and build companies. MSOE has changed the lives of our students and families along the way, including mine.”  

The gift marks a bold step forward for the university. With the addition of Diercks Hall and its new Bachelor of Science in Computer Science program, MSOE will be positioned at the educational forefront in artificial intelligence (AI), deep learning, cyber security, robotics, cloud computing and other next-generation technologies.  

“This new facility is not only an investment into MSOE, it is an investment in our state’s future that will help develop our workforce while opening new doors for businesses throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest,” said Governor Scott Walker.  

Diercks Hall will be a 64,000-square-foot facility in the heart of MSOE’s campus. Major features include a state of the art datacenter with an NVIDIA GPU-powered supercomputer, and space for corporate and academic partnerships. Students, faculty, staff and businesses are invited to collaborate with MSOE to benefit from this tremendous asset to the region.  

“This is a leap forward. MSOE is not joining a giant group of institutions around the country that have a facility like this. It is setting a pace that extremely few institutions are setting, and that is worth noting,” said County Executive Chris Abele. “Because, like Foxconn, it’s not just bringing jobs, it’s bringing an industry that doesn’t currently exist here.”  

“The revival of this city and the revival of this campus tells you all of the excitement that’s going on right now in our community,” said Mayor Tom Barrett. “And I believe MSOE is helping lead the charge in this revival.”  

Dr. Diercks earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering at MSOE in 1990. He also holds an Honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the university. Today, he serves as senior vice president at NVIDIA, a California-based technology company and global leader in AI, supercomputing and visual computing.