Electrical and computer engineering faculty involved in research and development in the semiconductor electronics field will be the first to begin moving into the nearly completed Engineering Unit II building this week at the University of California, Davis. The new building will provide 112,050 square feet of space for undergraduate teaching laboratories, graduate research laboratories and administrative space for several engineering departments. In a domino effect, the building frees needed space for teaching programs in other parts of the campus. Other faculty groups from the electrical and computer engineering and computer science departments and the materials science and engineering division will begin moving into the new building later this month. Most of the other occupants, including the administrative offices for the college, should be in place by the end of March. Engineering Unit II will be formally dedicated during a public ceremony held in the south patio at 2 p.m. Friday, April 16. "This long-awaited building, which has been in the planning stage for 25 years, will immensely improve the college's ability to contribute to the economy of our state and the nation," said M.S. Ghausi, dean of the College of Engineering. "Faculty, staff and students who have been scattered in trailers and several campus buildings will benefit by having space built to the specifications needed in the 21st century, allowing them to better contribute to solutions of some technological problems faced by our society, and to enhance the technology transfer which the University of California has historically provided." The state-funded $46.8 million building was financed by bonds issued through the Public Works Board of California. However, the college is relying on private support from corporations and individuals to fund equipment needs. Currently the College of Engineering is based in Bainer Hall, directly east of the new Engineering Unit II. When Bainer was completed in 1967 it was already too small to accommodate the college's 723 undergraduate students, 226 graduate students and 45 faculty members. Now there are 2,346 undergraduate students and 679 graduate students and 145 faculty members. Once the move is completed, Bainer Hall will undergo renovation, and biological and agricultural engineering, chemical engineering, and mechanical and aeronautical engineering faculty -- now scattered in several buildings across the campus -- will be consolidated within Bainer Hall. Engineering Unit II is a concrete and steel structure composed of three connected wings in a U-shaped arrangement. The north and east wings feature three stories above a full basement. The west wing provides two stories, including a 10,000-square-foot "clean room" designed for integrated circuit research, teaching and fabrication of special materials on silicon wafers. Designed by the Los Altos architectural firm of Erlich-Rominger and built by Sundt Corp. of Arizona, Engineering Unit II will serve as the campus's western gateway to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Quadrangle. Engineering Unit II is the first building to be completed within the planning guidelines of the Long Range Development Plan. The final construction phase of this two-year project is the building of a wind tunnel in the courtyard of Bainer Hall. The one-story, 4,000-square-foot facility will be completed by August.