Over the next 10 years, the Johns Hopkins University’s Montgomery County Campus (MCC) will expand to seven buildings. The third building opens this fall, doubling classroom space. The campus then will have 46 classrooms, 11 computer labs, a full-service library, a 285-seat auditorium, faculty and student lounges, an expanded bookstore, and a café.

Located in the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center in the I-270 corridor, the MCC serves as one of the Whiting School’s centers for Part-time Programs in Engineering and Applied Science (PTE). This summer, PTE students are taking courses in systems engineering, algorithms, cellular communications, and network security, to name just a few. At the MCC, Hopkins now offers more than 40 part-time graduate and undergraduate degree and certificate programs in engineering, arts and sciences, business and education, and public health.

Half of the new building’s 115,000 square feet of space will be devoted to academics. The other half is available for leasing to scientific and technology-related companies, agencies, and organizations with which Hopkins would like to establish partnerships.

Last fall, when construction began, Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. observed what a “significant driver” Hopkins is in Maryland’s economy. William R. Brody, president of Hopkins, pointed out that in this Montgomery County location, “the third-highest concentration of biotechnology companies in the nation, 60 percent of Maryland’s high-technology companies, and 19 federal agencies” are all nearby. Added Brody, “We have a unique opportunity to create the catalyst for development of a nationally recognized collaboration along the lines of Silicon Valley, Route 128, or Research Triangle.”

For more information on the Whiting School’s PTE programs, visit ptesrv.apl.jhu.edu .