Robert F. Leheny, deputy director of the Defense Research Projects Agency, spoke at the Engineering Science Building opening.

Guest speakers Robert F. Leheny, deputy director of the Defense Research Projects Agency, and Neal Hunter, chairman of the board of CREE, lauded the progress of UC Santa Barbara in remarks on Oct. 22 celebrating the grand opening of the $30-million Engineering Science Building.

Leheny, in particular, noted that UCSB’s latest addition to the College of Engineering complex was very impressive since he had visited the campus off and on since the 1970s when he worked in private industry.

Chancellor Henry T. Yang and COE Dean Matt Tirrell spoke at the ceremony and introduced several donors whose gifts enhanced the building with terraces, a conference room, and a computer laboratory.

The 54,000-square-foot structure, which was completed in July, has been gradually occupied over the past few months. Some of the 19 research laboratories and 24 faculty offices were open to guided tours, including Shuji Nakamura’s second floor Solid State Lighting lab, which is developing Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) of various colors.

“Prototypes are designed here,” Umesh Mishra, professor and chair of the Electrical and Chemical Engineering Department, told visitors to the lab. “Then they are made downstairs in the nanofabrication facility.”

A major portion of the space is dedicated to a 13,000-square-foot nanofabrication facility on the ground floor. Using modular construction to maximize the facility’s effective use, a number of projects can be going on at the same time.

Connecting the green LEDs seen in the Nakamura lab to practical applications, Mishra noted with pride, “Nearly every green traffic light in Santa Barbara stems from Shuji’s inventions.”