MTSU's Naked Eye Observatory has garnered more acclaim for its designers, Nashville engineering firm Hart Freeland Roberts Inc., with the recent announcement of an Honor Award for Engineering Excellence from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Tennessee.

Hart Freeland won in the special projects category for its work on the $1.2 million observatory, located in the open common area alongside Walnut Grove and the Cope Administration Building southwest of Wiser-Patten Science Hall.

Four other Nashville firms also were honored recently for projects ranging from the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville to the Interstate 124 reconstruction project in Chattanooga.

"ACEC of Tennessee sponsors this annual competition to turn the spotlight on the important contributions that Tennessee engineering firms make to the health, safety and quality of life of the people in our state and nation and throughout the world," noted Joe Chester, PE, chairman of the Engineering Excellence Awards program for ACEC of Tennessee and vice president for infrastructure services, Tennessee region, at engineering firm URS in Franklin.

Describing MTSU's Naked Eye Observatory as "an interactive monument," ACEC noted that the project involved highly complex and precise calculations and required engineers to use astronomy and the graphical application of geometry. The orbits of the various planets related to the earth's orbit, plus the rotation of the earth, the viewer's location on earth and the time of year the viewer is present, all had to be taken into account.

"Intended primarily as a teaching tool, the observatory is also open to the general public, bringing knowledge and the potential appreciation of astronomy to all who use it, while offering the experience of personally locating actual stars and planets with the naked eye," judges noted in their report. "Not subject to technological advances, the observatory's value is fundamentally timeless."

Construction on the Naked Eye facility got under way in late spring 2005 and was completed about a year later. The second phase of the observatory project includes a building that will house the university's telescope, which will be located across Old Main Circle from the Naked Eye facility between Smith Hall and Wiser-Patten.

For more information, please visit the MTSU Web site at www.mtsu.edu.

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