Various laboratories are located at the college of engineering, including the
Center for Wireless Integrated MicroSystems (WIMS) and the Center for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS), both of which are
NSF laboratories. Another major laboratory is the Center for Ultra-Fast Optical Sciences. The Phoenix Memorial Laboratory is a laboratory dedicated to research into the peaceful use of nuclear technology. It once housed the
Ford Nuclear Reactor, which was decommissioned in 2003. The College of Engineering also has 11
wind tunnels,
electron microscope and
ion beam laboratories, a civil engineering test facility, and
solid state manufacturing facilities. Various laboratories dedicated to
automotive engineering,
neutron science, optical sciences, and
robotics are scattered throughout the college. A
hydrodynamics laboratory is located on the University's Central Campus. An office of the
Weather Underground is located at the College of Engineering. The Duderstadt Center, formerly the Media Union and affectionately known as "The Dude" by engineering students, is named after former University president and nuclear engineering professor
James Duderstadt. It houses the Art, Architecture & Engineering Library and also contains
computer clusters, audio and video editing laboratories, galleries, and studios, as well as usability and various digital media laboratories, including
virtual reality. The Millennium Project, which focuses on the future of the university learning environment, is also housed in the Duderstadt Center. Computer services and networking is provided by the
Computer-Aided Engineering Network, more commonly known as
CAEN. CAEN operates various computer laboratories throughout the College of Engineering facilities and the university campus. The University of Michigan, partnering with the
Michigan Department of Transportation, opened a 32-acre
proving ground test course for
autonomous cars in 2015. The course, called
Mcity, was built on the site of a former
Pfizer facility, which the University purchased in 2009. Mcity contains five miles of roads and includes a mock town square, tunnel, highway exit ramps, a railroad crossing, gravel roadway, traffic circle, roundabout, and other obstacles. Faculty and engineering students utilize Mcity to work on projects and collaborate with automakers and suppliers who test vehicle technology at the course. In 2019 professors Elliot Soloway and Cathie Norris founded the
University of Michigan Center for Digital Curricula under the auspices of the University of Michigan College of Engineering for the purposes of building fully digital open curricula. This curricula is primarily designed to be delivered using the Collabrify Roadmaps software platform developed by the Norris and Soloway in the mid 2010s. ==Rankings==