Incredible achievements in a challenging year

In a difficult year when little went as planned, the College of Engineering has accomplished some incredible work, from taking up critical response efforts to the COVID-19 pandemic to opening the new Fitts-Woolard Hall and meeting fundraising goals that will grow the College’s impact for generations to come. Take a look back at this year’s accomplishments. 

Rapid response to COVID-19

Within weeks of the start of the COVID-19 crisis in the U.S., NC State Engineering faculty members and students designed and produced face shields and other PPE for healthcare workers; delivered excess supplies to local hospitals; partnered with a private company to ensure the University had an adequate supply of hand sanitizer; and received funding for research on wastewater sampling to help control the spread and on the ways hospital systems handled surges of critically ill patients.

Fitts-Woolard Hall unifies College on Centennial Campus

The doors of Fitts-Woolard Hall opened July 24, with in-person opening events planned for 2021. The dean’s office; the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering; and the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering started moving to the new building in August.

NC State alumna sets record in space

Christina Koch, who received both a B.S. and master’s degree in electrical engineering at NC State as well as a B.S. in physics, returned to Earth in February. She broke the record for longest continuous time spent in space by a woman, participated in the first three all-female spacewalks and worked on hundreds of important experiments aboard the International Space Station.

Making an impact for generations

The College met its ambitious $230 million fundraising goal for the University’s Think and Do the Extraordinary capital campaign a year ahead of schedule thanks to support from 18,200 generous alumni and friends.

Award launches new cybersecurity scholarship

Five undergraduate and graduate students specializing in cybersecurity at NC State each year will now receive the CyberCorps^® Scholarship for Service thanks to a $2.75 million award from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

#GivingPack a success

College of Engineering alumni and friends came out strong for NC State’s second annual Day of Giving, which was postponed to the fall this year. The College received the most gifts – 934 – of any NC State unit or college for the second year in a row, raising $1,243,338 total.

Nanotechnology work continues in the Research Triangle

The NSF renewed $5.5 million in funding over five years for the Research Triangle Nanotechnology Network (RTNN), a partnership between NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke that drives research and education in the areas of nanoscale engineering, science and technology.

Metal 3D printing on campus

NC State’s Center for Additive Manufacturing and Logistics (CAMAL), an interdisciplinary engineering center, and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Aviation signed a memorandum of understanding in August for a strategic partnership on metal additive manufacturing, or metal 3D printing.

Faculty Highlights

• Frances S. Ligler, Ross Lampe Distinguished Professor in the UNC/NC State Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, received the Simon Ramo Founders Award from the National Academy of Engineering “for the invention and development of portable optical biosensors, service to the nation and profession and educating the next, more diverse generation of engineers.”
• Three NC State Engineering faculty members — Douglas Call, Jun Liu and Aydin Aysu — received the NSF CAREER Award, bringing the total for the College to 44 in the last 10 years.
• Carol K. Hall, Camille Dreyfus Distinguished University Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, was honored with the Margaret H. Rousseau Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement by a Woman Chemical Engineer from AIChE.
• Six faculty members were elected Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. These faculty members are: Ruben Carbonell, Elizabeth Dickey, Peter Fedkiw, Munindar Singh, Paul Turinsky and Cliff Wang. NC State had 10 AAAS Fellows in 2020, the second-highest total of any university in the country for 2020.
• Cranos Williams, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was named the director of the Data-Driven Plant Sciences platform for the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative.

Student Highlights

• Colton Botta, a December 2019 graduate in computer science, is NC State’s fourth Marshall Scholar and one of just 46 selected in 2020. The scholarship funds two years of graduate studies in the United Kingdom.
• Daniel Haller, a Park Scholar majoring in chemical and biomolecular engineering, was one of three NC State students awarded the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship.
• Naila Segule, a 2020 graduate who majored in biomedical engineering and interdisciplinary studies, was one of nine students nationwide to be selected as a 2020 Payne Fellow. The fellowship provides awardees funding for a master’s degree and prepares fellows to receive appointments as Foreign Service Officers with the U.S. Agency for International Development.