September 15th, 2005 represented the official dedication of the UBC's (University of British Columbia) new five-story Fred Kaiser Building. This facility will house the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, which will expand from the neighboring MacLeod Building, as well as some Department of Mechanical Engineering Laboratories.
As the central hub of the engineering precinct on the UBC campus, it will also house the Faculty's Dean's Office, Student Services, and Technical Communications Center. As a new building for UBC campus, the Fred Kaiser Building has been constructed with an eye to sustainability and environmental awareness.
The facilities will allow the faculty to build a true centre of excellence for electrical and computer engineering teaching and research. It will allow the faculty to conduct research that will boost economic development in BC, and help communities improve their quality of life through new technologies. Most importantly, the facility will be among those that bring UBC onto the world stage as a university dedicated to excellence, innovation, and progress.
Mr. Kaiser's vision, entrepreneurial spirit and success in business, has built The Alpha Group into one of the leading power engineering and manufacturing organizations worldwide. He firmly believes in empowering youth through education - they are the leaders of tomorrow. It was this passion and his commitment to the furtherance of technology through the support of higher education that led him to establish the Kaiser Foundation for Higher Education, which is dedicated to providing funds for programs in higher education in higher technology in BC and across the continent.
The contribution of the Kaiser Foundation towards the new Fred Kaiser Building will leave a lasting legacy of Mr. Kaiser's support for, and vision of, the role of engineering and high-tech education in our economy and our community. Engineers educated here will be those who design and build the technologies for the future. The Fred Kaiser Building will make it possible for the students who are educated within these walls to make their own similarly profound contribution to their chosen field as Mr. Kaiser.
