FROM THE DEAN
Louis A. Martin-Vega
This spring at NC State, we are welcoming a new chancellor, saying goodbye to an excellent interim leader, and celebrating many successes in the College of Engineering.
Chancellor Randy Woodson arrived at NC State in early April. He has already won the admiration of many across the campus, and we are looking forward to working with him to move the College and the University forward. With his arrival, we also said goodbye to Chancellor Jim Woodward, who has provided excellent leadership for the University since his arrival last year. The NC State community will be forever grateful for his strength, integrity and grace during a very difficult time.
We are also celebrating many successes in the College. We joined forces with the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University to host a National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges Summit here in Raleigh. The summit brought together more than 500 academics, researchers, students and leaders in government and industry to examine the challenges we face in energy and health care and discuss our nation’s ability to compete in all areas internationally. This spring, good news arrived with the publication of the latest US News & World Report graduate engineering rankings, which placed our College 30th overall and 18th among public colleges of engineering, both up one spot from last year.
In this issue you will read about many of our other achievements. We talked with Senate Pro Tem Marc Basnight about how the College and the North Carolina General Assembly have worked together to create jobs and build North Carolina’s reputation as a worldwide leader in innovation and high-tech industry. We are fortunate that our state leaders have long supported higher education, and with their support the College will continue to play an important role in establishing North Carolina as an innovation hot spot.
You will also read about our efforts to make the new open source cyber world more secure, research that improves your health and well-being, and some of our future engineers who are already making an impact. And we talk with Bob Greenberg of IBM about the long-term relationship between his company and the College, examine how several of our graduates created the internationally successful company Cree, Inc., and explore the benefits of the Edward P. Fitts endowment.
We are grateful for your ongoing support, and I sincerely hope you enjoy this spring issue of NC State Engineering. As always, I look forward to a continued dialogue with you on our shared future.
Louis A. Martin-Vega
Dean