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 Designed by the internationally acclaimed architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the $37 million, 155,000-square-foot multistory Edmund D. Bossone Research Enterprise Center will become the focal point of Drexel's growing research program.
“The Bossone Center will further enhance Drexel's role as a national research leader,” said Drexel President Constantine Papadakis. “Its state-of-the-art facilities and labs will strengthen the research capabilities of our faculty and students. It will also broaden the scope and depth of our research program.”
The new Center includes 48 teaching laboratories, 37 lab support spaces, eight conference rooms, 77 offices and a 300-seat auditorium. The Center's focal point is a 70-foot-high prism that allows sunlight to penetrate the building. The Center also features a three-story atrium with skylights and a 5,100-square-foot terrace offers a view of the city.
 Since 1995, the University has increased research expenditures by almost 600 percent, from $13 million to $89 million. In 2003, Drexel was ranked 38th for federal research expenditures among the nation's private universities. In fiscal years 2003 and 2004, National Institutes of Health research expenditures increased 18 percent and National Science Foundation research expenditures grew 10 percent.
Although the College of Engineering will occupy most of the building, the Center will provide facilities for faculty and students from various departments in the University. The Center will house research facilities for tissue engineering, drug delivery, biomedical imaging and advanced materials development as well as Drexel's Nanotechnology Institute and the Center for Telecommunication and Information Assurance.
The Bossone Center will also be home to the Drexel Research Resources Center, a central materials characterization facility containing Raman spectroscopes, high-resolution transmission and scanning electron microscopes and atomic force microscopes. Staffed by expert technicians, the Research Resources Center will be available for use by regional organizations and the academic and corporate communities of greater Philadelphia. The School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems will utilize the new building for groundbreaking research that combines engineering with medicine to develop medical devices.
 The Center will save on energy costs with the help of a cooling system that incorporates ice storage to reduce the amount of energy used during peak times. A pumped-refrigerant, heat-recovery system reclaims heat from the laboratory exhaust and channels it back into the building, reducing the operating costs for heat.
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners designed the Center. Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates administered the project, and P. Agnes Inc. served as the contractor. The Center is named in honor of Drexel alumnus Edmund Bossone, '53, who, with wife Kathleen donated $10 million toward its completion. An $8 million grant from the commonwealth and $3.5 million in federal funding also contributed to the project. Drexel is ranked as one of the best national doctoral universities in the 2005 U.S. News & World Report listings. Among the University's research projects are protein research using nanotech equipment, cross-discipline biomedical research, nanotechnology, stem cell research and sensor-driven devices for disease detection.
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