Topping Off – Signing the Beam
The topping out of a construction project is a ceremonial event long observed by ironworkers and others in the construction trades marking the end of steel construction by putting into place a final, signed beam.
On February 16, 2012, hundreds of UMass Boston faculty, staff, students, construction workers and local dignitaries signed the beam to mark this milestone in the construction phase of the $155 million Integrated Science Complex.
Everyone who signed the beam also signed a list that will be preserved in the University Archives.