US university goes back to its roots with new research centre
08/06/2017
The Fabric Discovery Centre will be built on two floors of a converted textile mill in downtown Lowell. The Massachusetts state government is providing a $11.3 million grant for the project, which will fund the building of the facility and the purchase of the equipment needed to test and manufacture the fabrics and train the students to work with innovative textiles.
Julie Chen, vice chancellor for research and innovation at the university, said it is hoped the facility will encourage the next generation of textile manufacturers.
It will also help local companies and start-ups that are experimenting with these new fabrics, she added. They often don’t have the capital to invest in the equipment to test or manufacture samples, so the Fabric Discovery Centre will be a useful resource for them.
The University of Massachusetts Lowell started life as the Lowell Textile Institute, which was founded in 1895. At the time, the city was a centre for fabric manufacturing and the institute focused on researching the production of more traditional fabrics, such as cotton and wool.
Image shows an artist's impression of the Fabric Discovery Centre (credit: University of Massachusetts Lowell).
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