MMR Cuts Ribbon on BIM Cave and Advanced Materials Lab

BATON ROUGE – The LSU College of Engineering hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, April 18, to officially open its MMR Building Simulation and Information Modeling (BIM) Construction Management Studio and MMR Advanced Materials and Methods Laboratory.

LSU Engineering Dean Judy Wornat was joined by Chuck Berryman, chair of the Department of Construction Management, and James B. “Pepper” Rutland, founder and chief executive officer of MMR.

Both the BIM Construction Management Studio and Advanced Materials and Laboratory were made possible by a $1 million gift from MMR, as well as support from the University Technology Fee program and matching funds from the Construction Industry Advisory Council. MMR also contributed significantly to the design, fabrication and installation of the environment structure during the summer of 2017.

Robert Kooima, assistant professor in the LSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, assisted with the technical design of the VR environment.

“MMR is proud to support higher learning initiatives that will benefit our community and better prepare students for successful employment in the construction industry,” said Rutland, a 1972 alumnus of LSU’s first construction management graduating class.

The BIM “Cave,” as it is referred, is a virtual reality environment that features 44 55-inch 4K OLED displays in a circular formation and is designed to fit in a space of 24 feet by 48 feet, allowing a sizable group of students inside. Using virtual reality and BIM software within the environment, one can experience an immersive journey to see a building or structure before it is built, allowing designers or contractors to make changes well before actual construction has begun.

In the Advanced Materials and Methods Laboratory, researchers and students collaborate on groundbreaking techniques to improve concrete and asphalt durability and sustainability. This includes studying the use of microcapsules and their ability to heal concrete upon cracking.

About MMR
MMR has served as the industry leader in instrumentation and electrical construction, maintencance and technical services for more than 50 years. Under the leadership of President and CEO James "Pepper" Rutland, MMR continues to grow both regionally and nationally with 26 branch offices throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Colombia, Trinidad, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama.

For more information on MMR or to inquire about services offered, please click here or call 225.756.5090.

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Contact: Joshua Duplechain
Director of Communications
225-578-5706 (o)
josh@lsu.edu