Students Sign Beam During Steel Topping Ceremony

About 300 construction workers, data science students and University personnel gathered at the job site to celebrate the placement of the last and highest steel beam on the new School of Data Science building. The new building will sit at the entrance of the Emmet-Ivy corridor and serve as a gateway for the University's Discovery Nexus connecting Central Grounds with the athletic fields and North Grounds. 

The traditional “topping out” ceremony celebrates completing the steel work, typically the most dangerous part of any large construction job, and students were invited to add their signatures to the final beam alongside project and construction workers, data science faculty and staff, and University personnel. The ceremony kicked off with a round of speeches from project leaders, including Dean Phil Bourne, followed by the raising of the beam. Attendees were provided lunch and a commemorative t-shirts to mark the occasion.