Purdue Northwest Names New Building After Professor
Rendering courtesy of Purdue University Northwest
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Purdue University Board of Trustees has approved the official naming of the Nils K. Nelson Bioscience Innovation Building. The 68,000-square-foot project broke ground in July and is set to open in fall 2020.
Dr. Nils K. Nelson taught at the university for 29 years. Part of his estate gift of $8 million will fund the Dr. Nils K. Nelson Memorial Scholarship. Another portion will establish professorships in the College of Engineering and Sciences. The remaining amount will support the Bioscience Innovation Building.
The new facility will house research and teaching labs, as well as PNW’s College of Nursing and the Department of Biological Sciences. It will be the first new academic building on the Hammond Campus in nearly 20 years.
“We are humbled by Dr. Nelson’s posthumous generosity,” said PNW Chancellor Thomas Keon in a news release. “Dr. Nelson impacted the lives of students who went on to be chemists, biologists and doctors. Today, we celebrate the continuation of his legacy.”
Nelson joined the Hammond Campus faculty as an assistant professor in 1962, previously he taught at the University of Maine and University of Illinois. He pursued teaching after 11 years as a research chemist at Shell Oil Company. He was promoted to associate professor in 1966.