The UND Aerospace Foundation has announced they are breaking ground on a new education and research facility. The new building, which will be located on the corner of James Ray Drive and University Ave, will help house parts of UND’s rapidly growing Unmanned Aircraft Systems program.

The UAS program is fairly new to UND but has grown rapidly since first starting. UAS research and graduates are in high demand  –  especially for our military. More and more students every year attend UND for our UAS system, which means UND is a top school for the program.

The Aerospace Foundation held a ceremony for the new building  last Thursday in which UND President Robert Kelley and other guests spoke on the new building. One of the other speakers present was Si Robin, Vice President of Sensor Systems, one of the lead donors for the new building.

Si Robin and his wife Mary E. Bazar are being recognized for their generosity of major donations. UND will name the new building “Robin Hall” in honor of Robin and Bazar.

UND has been given permission by the state of North Dakota to use $24.9 million from private donations or grants for the new facility. The last building for the Aerospace studies at UND was Clifford Hall and was built in 1991.

The school says it needs a new building to expand the growing number of students coming to UND for aviation. With the addition of “Robin Hall” UND will be able to expand an already leading UAS program to provide students with the best learning environment.

The new building will also benefit many different groups in research of UAS and how we can better use the technology.

At the ceremony, President Kelley spoke about the new building, highlighting it’s special features.

“This is a very exciting day for the university” Kelley said. “66,000 square feet of space that will be dedicated to research, training, and education in Unmanned Aircraft Systems.”

The addition of Robin Hall will push UND to the leading university for UAS research and education. Si Robin was at the ceremony for the new building and spoke about his excitement for the new building.

“This is my way at this age to give back to the people who most deserve it which is UND,” Robin said.

The new will serve as a leading education and research facility.

Parker Payne a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].