Dedicated in Spring 2007, the Robert B. Goergen Hall is the new home of both the Institute of Optics–founded in 1929, it is the nation's first academic program in optics–and Biomedical Engineering–one of the College's newest and fastest growing departments. This 100,000-square-foot building features extensive research facilities, undergraduate and graduate teaching labs, state-of-the-art demonstration and lecture halls, as well as the new Center for Institute Ventures, an initiative to help faculty commercialize their research and discoveries.