Wolfpack Engineering Unleashed (WEU)
Welcome to the Wolfpack Engineering Unleashed Network!
Why should you join the WEU network?
- To foster and grow engineering education at NC State and beyond
- To inspire students and enhance student learning experiences
- To become an advocate for integrating the 6 C’s into classrooms and research cultures
- To collaborate with Faculty in the creation of new approaches to overcome individual and contextual challenges
- To support other educators in their practice
What are the 6 C’s?
- Curiosity, Connections, and Creating Value: Curiosity inspires successful engineers to connect ideas to create value in the world.
- Communication, Collaboration, and Character: The combination of engineering skills and personal skills create strong global leaders.
Using the 6 C’s in the classroom connects our students’ schooling to their desire to make the world a better place. The 6 C’s complement the delivery of engineering skills and technical knowledge.
This pedagogy emphasizes discovery, opportunity identification, and value creation and builds on active learning and problem-based learning techniques, adding the “Why should I care?” by explicitly connecting classroom content to the real world.
Three reasons to teach with the 6 C’s:
- Increase student motivation
- Adds purpose and direction; allows students to integrate topics into their lives; decreases anxiety by providing multiple ways to demonstrate learning.
- Increase instructor satisfaction
- Shows students coming alive as they search for pressing problems; invigorates lectures and office hours.
- Increase student learning and retention
- Builds on active learning and problem-based learning techniques which are known to improve learning.
Join us to learn more about this pedagogy and the network!
Upcoming WEU Events
The Wolfpack Engineering Unleashed Incubator
May 6-7, 2024
The Wolfpack Engineering Unleashed Community is pleased to invite you to register and attend its 2nd edition of the Wolfpack Engineering Unleashed incubator! This incubator will help you create value for and with your students through course activities and projects. Discover how the 6 C’s: Curiosity, Connections, Creating Value, Communication, Collaboration, and Character, can develop your teaching methods, increase student motivation, and improve learning outcomes. This workshop is an opportunity to join a community of faculty equipping students with the skills they need to make an impact on the world.
Join us on Monday, May 6th, and Tuesday, May 7th, 2024, at NC State’s Centennial Campus in Engineering Building II, Room 3001, Dean Suite. Led by NC State College of Engineering and NC State College of Natural Resources Faculty Members Drs. Anna Howard, Nathalie Lavoine, and Kate Saul. The workshop is sponsored by the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) and NC State Engineering Office of Faculty Development and Success. To register and apply, scan the QR code or see here.
Seats are limited. Click the button below to submit your application today.
For event questions, please contact Anna Howard at anna_howard@ncsu.edu.
Upcoming WEU Lunch & Learns
Monthly
The Wolfpack Engineering Unleashed community is launching its new series of monthly Lunch & Learn events! Once a month, you will have the opportunity to meet with the WEU community, discuss teaching practices, tips and tricks, and learn more about the 6 C’s and the entrepreneurial mindset. A link will be shared for virtual attendance. Lunch will be offered for in-person attendance; you will receive a link with lunch options. Each event will include a 15-min lecture on one topic and time for practice, questions, and networking.
- April 25 (Register here) – Handling large classrooms with the 6C’s
- June 20 – EU Card: Writing guidelines & review process
- September – Create your own micromoment activity
- October – Assessment of the 6C’s
- November – DEI best practices with EM
Find the full list and details of our Lunch & Learns in this handout. Contact Nathalie Lavoine at nmlavoin@ncsu.edu for further questions.
Past Events
- August 16-17, 2023
Our Partners and Collaborators
The Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network
- NC State is now a KEEN partner school.
- KEEN is a partnership of >54 Colleges and Universities including both large R1 universities (Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Duke, etc.) and smaller schools (Ohio Northern, Campbell, Lawrence Tech, Univ. New Haven, etc.)
- One Mission: Reach all engineering students with curiosity, connections, and creating value so they can create personal, economic, and societal value through a lifetime of meaningful work.
For more information, please visit https://engineeringunleashed.com/what-is-keen.
Engineering Unleashed
- A national community to join for free!
- More than 4,000 engineering faculty and staff working to promote the entrepreneurial mindset: curiosity, connections, and creating value.
- Thousands of classroom activities are ready to be used in all kinds of classes, so faculty don’t have to start from scratch.
For more information, please visit https://engineeringunleashed.com.
Engineering Unleashed Faculty Development National Workshops
Engineering Unleashed Faculty Development National Workshops cover a wide range of topics, including teaching and learning, research, leadership, and industry. These workshops provide a valuable opportunity to connect with faculty, staff, and administrators nationwide, offering ideas and techniques to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset for integration into your courses and research.
Interested in exploring specific topics and connecting with the broader Engineering Unleashed Network? Explore their professional offerings here and reach out to OFDS for more details at engineeringfds@ncsu.edu.
WEU Leads
Joel Ducoste
Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Success
Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering
Phone: (919) 515-8150
Email: jducoste@ncsu.edu
Office: Fitts-Woolard Hall 3250
Anna Howard
Teaching Professor
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
College of Engineering
Phone: (919) 513-4019
Email: akhowar5@ncsu.edu
Office: Engineering Building III (EB3) 3405
Nathalie Lavoine
Assistant Professor
Department of Forest Biomaterials
College of Natural Resources
Phone: 919 513 3235
Email: nmlavoin@ncsu.edu
Office: Biltmore Hall (Robertson Wing) 1022F
Katherine Saul
Professor
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
College of Engineering
Phone: (919) 515-1273
Email: ksaul@ncsu.edu
Office: Engineering Building III (EB3) 3162
Marshall Brain
Director of the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program, Lecturer
Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering
Email: mdbrain@ncsu.edu
Office: Engineering Building II (EB2) 2016B
Megan Morin
Associate Director for Faculty Development and Success
College of Engineering
Email: megan_morin@ncsu.edu
Office: Engineering Building II (EB2) 2016C