The Boston University Photonics Center (BUPC) is a building and research center owned by

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

. The 10-floor building opened in June 1997, finished at a cost of $78.4 million. The center specializes in developing and commercializing new products for the

photonics Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. Though ...

industry, spanning the fields of biomedical engineering, nanoscience, physics, astronomy, and chemistry. The two lowest floors include classroom and lab spaces used by the College of Engineering; a number of engineering faculty also have their offices and research labs in the building. The Photonics Center is located adjacent to the 8-lane

Mass Pike The Massachusetts Turnpike (colloquially "Mass Pike" or "the Pike") is a toll highway in the US state of Massachusetts that is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The turnpike begins at the New York state l ...

and the busy Framingham/Worcester commuter rail line, which create noise and vibration that unmitigated would be disruptive to lectures and experiments. The steel frame of the building is founded on a reinforced concrete mat to minimize vibrations, while the above ground windows have a 1-inch airspace between window panes to block ambient sound from the highway.

References

External links

Boston University Photonics Center: Facilities
{{Boston University Buildings at Boston University