The topping off ceremony at the construction site of UMass Lowell’s Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center was satisfyingly inspirational for many reasons, chief among them being the sight of a long white steel girder autographed by hundreds of people in blue Sharpie and bearing a small fir tree and US flag slowly being lifted by a crane to the top line of steel of the structure. A few minutes earlier a time capsule that had been placed in the foundation of the now-demolished Smith Hall dormitory in 1947 had been opened in front of the crowd. In it were documents from the time, including a letter from the Governor of Massachusetts who expressed faith that his generation would find their way forward in the new “Atomic Age.” A new time capsule will be embedded in the ETIC, filled with documents and messages to a future generation on campus and in the city.