April 26, 2005

NC State Celebrates New Engineering Building on Centennial Campus

Engineering Building I (Image courtesy of Perkins & Will )

The College of Engineering at North Carolina State University held a dedication ceremony Friday, April 22, to celebrate the occupation of Engineering Building I (EBI), the first academic engineering building constructed with state funding in 40 years. Construction of EBI was made possible through the passing of the Bond Referendum of 2000 by the citizens of North Carolina.

More than 250 people attended the dedication ceremony in the atrium of Engineering Building I. The keynote speaker for the event was S. Frank Culberson (ChE ’60), president and CEO of Rimkus Consulting Group. Other speakers included Dr. James L. Oblinger, chancellor of the university; Peaches Gunter Blank, chair of the NC State University Board of Trustees; and Dr. Nino A. Masnari, dean of the College of Engineering. Following the ceremony, visitors toured the new facilities and watched demonstrations of many of the ongoing research projects.

Engineering Building I represents the first phase of the plan to move the College of Engineering to Centennial Campus. The building, which houses the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has 90,000 square feet of classroom, laboratory and office space.

Currently under construction is Engineering Building II (EBII), which will house the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. EBII will open in fall 2005.

“The completion of Engineering Building I is a landmark event in the history of the College of Engineering at NC State,” said Masnari. “This investment by the people of North Carolina will provide much-needed space for these departments to conduct important research and educate future leaders in engineering.”

The event, part of a week-long celebration of the twentieth anniversary of Centennial Campus, was hosted by the College of Engineering and the NC State Engineering Foundation, Inc. Shell Oil Company was the sponsor of the dedication ceremony.

— weston —

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