Introducing the Kummer Student Design Center

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Kummer Student Design Center – located on the corner of U.S. Highway 63 (Bishop Avenue) and 10th Street. Photos by B.A. Rupert and Bob Phelan

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Fred and June Kummer with Chancellor Carney. Photo by B.A. Rupert

A former bread factory’s transformation into a home for Missouri University of Science and Technology’s award-winning design teams is now complete.

Missouri S&T’s Kummer Student Design Center is a 23,000-square-foot facility with retail space and room for the majority of the university’s design teams.


The teams
Teams involved in the center include Advanced Aero Vehicle, Baja, Concrete Canoe, Engineers Without Borders, Formula SAE Racing, Human-Powered Vehicle, Robotics, Solar Car, Solar House and Steel Bridge.

Schedule a tour
Call 573-341-6782 or email phelanb@mst.edu to schedule a tour of the new facilities.
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The retail portion of the building includes a recently opened Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches restaurant.

Thank you for your loyalty
The $2.75 million project was funded entirely through private gifts to the university, including a $1.25 million gift from Fred and June Kummer of Huntleigh Village, Mo. Fred Kummer is a 1955 civil engineering graduate of Missouri S&T and the CEO of St. Louis-based HBE Corp.

The original design center idea was spearheaded by three other civil engineers: Richard Arnoldy, a 1969 civil engineering graduate of Missouri S&T and retired CEO of ARCO Construction Co. Inc. in St. Louis; Robert Brinkmann, a 1971 civil engineering graduate and founder and president of R.G. Brinkmann Construction Co., based in Chesterfield, Mo.; and Barry Koenemann, a 1970 civil engineering graduate and CEO of United Construction Ent. Co. of St. Louis. Other major donors include Michael Bytnar, a 1968 mechanical engineering graduate and the retired president of Nooter Corp. of St. Louis, and the Sunderland Foundation of Ashgrove Cement Co., located in Overland Park, Kan.

Bragging rights
Missouri S&T has built a strong reputation among technological research universities for its student design team success. S&T’s Solar Car Team has won two North American solar races – Sunrayce’99 and the 2003 North American Solar Challenge – and its Human-Powered Vehicle Team has won the 2007 and 2010 national championships in addition to several recent East Coast and West Coast championships. In 2009, Missouri S&T’s Advanced Aero Vehicle Group was the top U.S. team in an international competition among student-designed and -built radio-controlled aircraft.

It’s official
The university’s new Kummer Student Design Center was formally dedicated on May 20, 2011.

How you can help
The design teams still need equipment for the new facility. Learn how you can help!
Follow the Missouri S&T design team and student design center activities on the ExperienceThis Blog.
More Missouri S&T news and events.