A handful of confused students recently poked around the spanking new Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building, only to realize that their classes are still in old Glenn L. Martin Hall, an engineering dean said.

The 140,000 square-foot, $56 million Kim Building will be used at roughly 50 percent of its capacity this semester as the college waits for equipment, Associate Dean of the Aerospace Engineering Department William Fourney said. Class and lab work should be at 100 percent by spring. Fourney and Vice President of Research Jacques Gansler have 0both stressed the value of the Kim Building, which will officially be dedicated on September 19.

“The intent was to have everything up by fall, but we didn’t make that goal,” Fourney said.

The college was still hiring technicians, he explained, who devise experiments with faculty and make sure equipment is up and running. “They’re the guts of it,” he said.

About 80 percent of the building’s lab equipment has arrived, but the three undergraduate labs are awaiting shipments, Fourney said. Students will use the building on a rolling basis as equipment comes in, and all materials labs will be in Kim, Fourney said.

The 100-person lecture hall is in full use already. Smaller classes were moved out of the hall. Most faculty and dean offices are already in use, Fourney said.

The formal ribbon-cutting Sept. 19 will be full of high-profile attendees. Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich, House Speaker Michael Busch and university Chancellor Brit Kirwan are scheduled to attend. A. James Clark, who the engineering school is named after, and Jeong H. Kim, who contributed money to construct the new engineering building, should also be there.

The Innovation Hall of Fame — the engineering school’s hall of fame currently housed in Glenn L. Martin Hall — will be moved into the Kim Building that day.

Other VIPs include former U.S. Senator Joseph D. Tydings, president of Lockheed Martin Information Technology Linda Renee Gooden and NASA Director Michael D. Griffin a university alumnus.

Contact reporter Tom Howell Jr. at howelldbk@gmail.com