MECC. Photo credit: Trinity College Communications

The Roy Nutt Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science Center, commonly referred to as MECC (and previously as MCEC), runs perpendicular to the Life Sciences building and houses the departments of math, engineering, and computer science. The building also contains the Aetna Quantitative Center, classrooms, and laboratories.

A major initiative of the 1986-1989 $50 million Campaign for Trinity, the MECC was completed in spring 1991 as part of a goal to provide modern facilities for and increase the number of math and science majors at Trinity. César Pelli and his architectural firm designed the MECC, emulating the architectural styles and materials found on the Long Walk with sandstone and brick. The interior was purportedly designed to be simple and straightforward, with various spaces branching off a corridor that runs the length of the building.

At the time it opened in 1991, the building was known simply as the Mathematics, Computing, and Engineering Center (MCEC). The ground floor computer were originally part of the computing center and available for general use. They were used extensively by students to write papers. The computer science department had its own separate lab on an upper floor. The computer science department moved downstairs after the computing center was merged with the library and moved to the expanded Library and Information Technology Center (LITC) building in 2002.

Though it was originally dedicated to him in part, the MECC was officially rededicated on May 18, 2012 to Roy Nutt '53. Nutt had majored in mathematics and worked with computers closely in his career. Nutt and his wife Ruth both served as Trinity trustees, and Roy was a 1988 recipient of Trinity’s Eigenbrodt Cup, the highest award to be presented to an alum. In the 1980s, Roy Nutt provided a leadership gift that propelled the MCEC building project forward, and his wife Ruth worked during the 1990s to support the expansion and renovation of the Raether Library and Information Technology Center, which allowed the information technology staff to move into the library.

Public Art CT

Trinity Reporter, Fall 2012.

Academic building rededicated Roy Nutt Mathematics, Engineering & Computer Science Center: Trinity Reporter, Fall 2012.

Trinity Reporter, Spring 1991.