Computer science majors will be attending class in luxury next semester with the completion of the new Thomas M. Siebel Center for Computer Science.

Alumnus Thomas Siebel donated $32 million to his alma mater for the high-tech center that will house classrooms, instruction labs, research labs and offices for the computer science department. The expansion to the nearly 225,000-square-foot facility will allow an increase in faculty members from 35 to 65, an increase in undergraduate students from 1,100 to 1,300, and an increase in graduate students from 350 to about 500, according to the computer science Web site.

The Siebel Center, 201 N. Goodwin Ave., will open Nov. 17, although most operations won't take place until the spring semester, said Dennis Mickunas, associate head of the computer science department.

Although the center will not open until the spring semester, the department is excited for the move.

The new center is good for the computer science department because it puts it at the top of its field, said John Hart, associate professor of computer science.

One of the building's main functions will be to allow research of the newest computing technologies.

"The main goal of the expansion is to take the research we are doing and bring it into our every day lives," Hart said. "We will be hands-on with our research."

An area of research Mickunas said the department hopes to focus on, is fingerprint identification. A hallway of the building will be devoted to experiments that can detect people in the hallway through facial identification, Mickunas said.

But until that technology is developed, the building will put to use many of the most advanced developments to this date. "Smart spaces" will identify people who walk into a room wearing an identification tag, Mickunas said.

Graduate students will have keycard access to the building 24 hours a day and seven days a week, and Mickunas said the department would like undergraduate students to have this accessibility also.

Hyung-Seok Hahm, a second-year graduate student, said he looks forward to having more space and better research facilities.

"I feel lucky to be in the computer science department right now," he said.

Classrooms will have wireless and high-speed wired networks, allowing the use of computerized whiteboards, HDTV displays and digital audio-visual capture. Plasma displays for showing slides or Powerpoint presentations will be available for people to hook to their laptops or personal digital assistants. Several rooms and the common areas include space for student and research presentations. Students and faculty will also be able to search the Siebel database and make reservations for open meeting rooms.

Siebel earned three degrees from the University, one of which was a master's in computer science in 1985. He is the founder and CEO of Siebel Systems, a provider of sales, marketing and customer service information systems.

"The ability to make this contribution to my alma mater is a deeply rewarding milestone for me," Siebel said on the computer science Web site. "The University of Illinois provided the crucial foundation for my career and I am pleased to support the University's leadership in the field of computer science by helping to fund the construction of state-of-the-art facilities conducive to cutting-edge research."