Northern Kentucky University announced today that it has received a $6 million gift from Griffin Industries to support the university’s efforts to equip its new NKU informatics center with some of the world’s most advanced informatics instrumentation.
The gift will be matched by $1 million from the Commonwealth of Kentucky ’s Comprehensive University Excellence Trust Fund, bringing the total impact of the gift to $7 million.
The facility, scheduled to open in fall 2011, will be named Griffin Hall, pending NKU Board of Regents approval. NKU is in the process of raising $17.3 million to complete and equip the building, supplementing the $35.5 million allocated by the state for its construction.
Only a few short weeks ago we gathered to break ground on what will be one of the most advanced informatics centers in the country,” said NKU President James Votruba . “Today, we celebrate a vision – not just the vision that we have for this facility, but the vision that Griffin Industries has for this region’s future. Our friendship with the Griffin family has always been strong, and today we take that relationship to the next level.”
Robert Griffin, CEO of Griffin Industries, said the company saw this as an “extraordinary opportunity” to impact the region’s future. “We are very excited about this opportunity to invest in NKU and to help to position the community and region at the forefront in the field of Informatics,” he said. “This is an opportunity not only for NKU and its students, but also for northern Kentucky and Cincinnati businesses.”
The facility will feature a Computer Assisted Virtual Environment (CAVE) that will be available for businesses to use for product development. While several large corporations boast their own CAVEs for research and development, the CAVE located at Griffin Hall will be one of the only CAVEs available for public use. It will also boast a Digitorum that will be capable of running complex simulations in homeland security, computer and financial security, and other industries.
The Digitorium can double as a Network Operations Center (NOC) that will allow broad use by a variety of private and government sectors.
Giving back to the community is something the Griffin family is quite familiar with. Robert Griffin noted that John L. Griffin, founder of Griffin Industries, was a strong believer in giving back. “Our father taught all of us that even when times are tough, you have to give something back,” he said. “Our gift is an extraordinary vote of confidence in the contribution that NKU makes to society. It is recognition that NKU can and must compete with the best private universities – and can do so through successful partnerships and private philanthropy.”
In addition to being home to some of the most advanced digital technology available, Griffin Hall will also be the first “green” building on NKU’s campus, having been designed for LEED Silver certification. To learn more about the facility, visit http://informatics.nku.edu/building/index.html.
