Electric power research center set for Purdue Discovery Park

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - A company that makes equipment for the electric power industry plans to build a research center at Purdue University's Discovery Park.

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories announced Thursday that it will build a 100,000-square-foot research center at the 40-acre technical park in West Lafayette that serves as Purdue's hub for interdisciplinary research.

Company founder and Purdue alumnus Edmund O. Schweitzer III says his Pullman, Washington-based company's proximity to Purdue will allow it to benefit from both the "research and the talent pool the university provides."

The new center will be built on 10 acres of a 20-acre plot and be called SEL Purdue. It will be designed to hold up to 300 employees, but Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories says the number of workers there will increase as its business needs change.