Cozzens and Cudahy Research Center to be used by STEM students

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- The Cozzens and Cudahy Research Center will be used as a place for students of color to explore careers in science, technology, engineering and math, the so-called STEM disciplines.

Michael Cudahy joined Michael Lovell, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), on Thursday, January 17th and announced the building will be donated for use by STEM students.

At the event, Cudahy discussed his experience in launching Marquette Electronics to 20 UWM students of color who are participating in a STEM “boot camp,” sponsored by UWM and the Wisconsin Alliance for Minority Participation (WiscAMP). Bolstering the number of students of color who enter STEM careers is a topic of particular interest to philanthropist Cudahy, and it will be a focus of the building’s activities. 

“This will be a place of STEM innovation for the STEM pipeline. It will be a place for hands-on learning for middle-school, high-school and undergraduate college students who will be mentored and taught by graduate students and UWM STEM faculty. In turn, our graduate students will be mentored by faculty and researchers from the corporate community," Joan Prince, UWM vice-chancellor for Global Inclusion and Engagement said. 

Cudahy built the center in 1983 as a research and innovation hub for his company. He retained the building after selling Marquette Electronics to GE Medical Systems, now GE Healthcare, in 1998. UWM has leased all or part of the building for almost a decade. 

In 2010, Cudahy donated $2 million to help fund UWM’s Innovation Campus development near the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center in Wauwatosa. He was awarded a UWM honorary degree in 2003.