College of Engineering, North Carolina State University

Accessible Navigation

> >

Engineering a Better Tomorrow

Audience & Topic Navigation

College Welcome

The First Year Engineering Program hosts an annual College of Engineering Welcome event that features our Dean of the College of Engineering and a keynote speaker, typically an NC State engineering alumnus.

The 9th annual College of Engineering Welcome is scheduled for Thursday, August 20, 2009, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m., at the McKimmon Center. Tom McPherson (BSEE '76, MSEE '77), managing member of Cluny Aviation LLC, will present the keynote address.

McPherson

A 2004 Distinguished Engineering Alumnus, McPherson is an entrepreneur who has founded and led several successful high-tech companies resulting in one initial public offering and two mergers. Some of the companies that Tom helped establish and make successful include Picture Element Limited, Network Equipment Technologies, Rapid City Communications, Hatteras Networks and most recently Cognio, which he sold last fall to Cisco. He also has held executive positions at Hughes Network Systems, Bay Networks and Nortel. McPherson serves on the NC State Engineering Foundation Board of Directors and established the McPherson Family Distinguished Professorship in support of the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program in 2001.

The 9th annual College of Engineering Welcome is sponsored by