Extension and Outreach
NC State Engineering faculty, staff and students share new technologies and resources with businesses, government and the community in a variety of ways, including extension programs, partnerships and economic development initiatives, professional training, distance education, pre-college K-12 programs and summer camps.
Centennial Campus
NC State’s Centennial Campus is a research science park made up of university, corporate and government facilities. The proximity of these facilities and personnel fosters an exchange of ideas and resources that are mutually beneficial. The College has six engineering buildings on Centennial Campus: the Larry K. Monteith Engineering Research Center (MRC); the Constructed Facilities Laboratory (CFL); the Golden LEAF Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC); and Engineering Buildings (EB) I, II and III, home to six academic departments. There are plans for more engineering buildings, allowing most of the College to relocate to Centennial Campus.
Engineering Career Fair
Twice a year, in the spring and fall, the College hosts the Engineering Career Fair. The event provides an opportunity for prospective employers to meet with engineering students interested in working for their companies. The Engineering Career Fair is one of the largest career fairs in the country held specifically for engineering students.
Engineering Entrepreneurs Program
Open to both engineering and nonengineering students, the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program (EEP) curriculum where students model both a product and a company, not just a business plan. By creating multidisciplinary “virtual” start-up companies, called eTeams led by senior engineering students, the program mimics the actual environment of a start-up company and combines experimental and theoretical learning, plus advising and mentoring from technology product developers, entrepreneurs and business professionals.
Engineering Online
Engineering Online is a distance education program that serves the needs of the adult learner, enabling them to earn engineering and computer science course credits, as well as advanced degrees, through the flexibility of online classes.
Engineering Place (K-20 Outreach)
Engineering Place aims to show students of all ages and levels that engineering is more than buildings and machines. For these children an early introduction to engineering becomes an opportunity to construct a catapult, attend a summer learning program, compete in science and math competitions or work with college students and graduates on projects designed for hands-on learning.
Ergonomics Center of North Carolina
The Ergonomics Center of North Carolina is a membership-based organization housed in the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University. Founded in 1994, the Center was created to make workplaces safer, more productive, and more competitive by providing practical, cost-effective ways to reduce or eliminate America's fastest-growing occupational injury and illness problem: painful, crippling cumulative trauma disorders.
Golden LEAF Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center
The Golden LEAF Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC) is a member of North Carolina's Biomanufacturing and Pharmaceutical Training Consortium (BPTC) and is located on the NC State’s Centennial Campus. The only center of its kind in the nation, BTEC simulates a biomanufacturing facility. Its purpose is to facilitate the growth of North Carolina’s rapidly expanding biomanufacturing industry by creating a well-trained, industry-focused workforce through advanced hands-on training and education.
Industrial Extension Service (IES)
Our innovation and advances directly benefit North Carolina businesses through the Industrial Extension Service (IES) because we know that successful, sustainable businesses make a successful, sustainable state. Combining industry specialists and experience with university resources and expertise, IES is dedicated to supplying North Carolina businesses with the tools and services they need to help increase productivity, efficiency, quality and ultimately profit.
Minority Engineering Programs
The mission of Minority Engineering Programs is to develop and maintain programs that assist in the recruitment, retention and graduation of African American, Native American, and Hispanic students in engineering and computer science. The program offers support such as tutorial programs, scholarship opportunities, overnight recruitment stays, summer transition programs, counseling services, student advancement and retention teams and freshman orientation courses.
North Carolina Solar Center
The North Carolina Solar Center seeks to benefit North Carolina by advancing renewable energy for a healthy environment and a sustainable economy. Full of new ideas on renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass, hydrogen and biofuel energies, the center also focuses on green building and energy efficiency technical assistance, clean transportation/alternative fuels, economic development, energy incentives/policy analysis, industry training and education and K-20 outreach. The Solar Center also maintains the nationally recognized Database of State Incentives for Renewables in Efficiency (DSIRE) at dsireusa.org.
PURPOSE Institute
PURPOSE, which stands for Promoting Underrepresented Presence On Science and Engineering Faculty, focuses on the development of African-American, Hispanic and Native American science and engineering faculty members. Although the PURPOSE Institute was founded in 2004 to boost the numbers of underrepresented minorities on engineering faculties, the institute also sponsors outreach activities for K-12 students from groups underrepresented in engineering.
Summer Programs
The College of Engineering through The Engineering Place offers summer learning programs to three K-12 age groups: high school, middle school and elementary school students. The summer workshops for high school students are weeklong residential programs through which students can explore engineering disciplines. These residential programs also give high school students an opportunity to experience college life at NC State. Middle school and elementary school students are introduced to engineering through weeklong day camps that feature hands-on, creative activities.
Virtual Computing Lab
The Virtual Computing Lab (VCL) provides around-the-clock remote access to NC State's large software library of engineering, design and scientific applications to students and faculty at NC State and other UNC System institutions.
Women in Engineering
The Women in Engineering program serves to coordinate, educate and sponsor many programs for women and works to create an environment that encourages, supports and challenges women in engineering to achieve even higher levels of success. The program has a close relationship with the NC State Women's Center and includes resources such as a one-on-one peer mentoring program for women engineers, an active student chapter of the Society of Women Engineers and K-12 Outreach teams. The program also supports a living and learning community for women scientists and engineers called WISE (Women in Science and Engineering). Designed especially for first and second-year women majoring in mathematics, statistics, science or engineering at NC State, the WISE Village brings young students together with upper-class mentors in one residence hall.
