ALABAMA INNOVATION AND MENTORING OF ENTREPRENEURS CENTER (AIME)
Building ID: 1252 | Abbreviation: AIME
720 2nd Street
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401
The 50,000-square-foot Alabama Institute for Manufacturing Excellence (AIME) building, completed in December 2000, is a two-story building containing three conference/meeting rooms, two multi-media classrooms with seating capacity ranging from 31 to 62 students, two 2,000-square-foot office suites for faculty and administrators, and 21,000 square feet of multi-purpose research labs. The research labs include a 5,600-square-foot high bay lab with a 10-ton crane, a 3,300-square-foot computer lab, and a 1,000-square-foot sound analysis chamber. AIME is comprised of a variety of technology R&D and deployment centers addressing crucial manufacturing thrusts such as product, process, and equipment design; environmentally conscious manufacturing; product and materials processing; and information dissemination and training. The Alabama Institute for Manufacturing Excellence (AIME) was established in response to growing manufacturing-related technology and human resource needs. AIME operates as a full partnership between UA, state industry and government, and federal research agencies. Under the leadership of Congressman Tom Bevill, the university received a $9.1 million grant from the Department of Energy in 1996 to build a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to improving manufacturing processes and training graduates who will be involved in manufacturing.