College of Engineering

The School of Engineering was established on May 28, 1923. The school included five departments: mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering, physics, and textile engineering.

The station was established as "the research agency in engineering" to support extension work for the School of Engineering. The station was intended to address engineering issues of local state and regional concern. H. B. Shaw was the first station director.

Riddick stepped down as university president to become the first dean of the School of Engineering. He served in that position until 1937.

Curriculum in industrial engineering was announced with the first courses offered in the fall of 1930.

The process of consolidating State College's and UNC-Chapel Hill's engineering programs into one program at State College began in 1935.

The Consolidated University (NC State, UNC, and Woman's College) consolidated all engineering programs at NC State. Engineering faculty and $40,000 worth of equipment were transferred from UNC to NC State.

State College's first work study program began for engineering students with approximately 20 students employed.

Margery Belle Garriss was the first woman to graduate in architectural engineering.

The faculty approved a plan to hold fall engineering classes in the summer as part of a nationwide war effort to accelerate graduation at technical schools.

Urgent appeals were made to increase women enrollment numbers in engineering courses as male students left to fight in World War II.

Eighteen women won a fellowship award of $1,425 from Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, which offered to employ them as engineering aides after completing a 48-week course offered by State College.

John Harold Lampe became dean of the School of Engineering. During his time at NC State, Lampe oversaw the expansion of the engineering program as it became one of the largest in the country, while facilitating the addition of new instructional and research programs, especially nuclear engineering. Lampe retired from NC State in 1962.

The Minerals Research Laboratory opened in Asheville, NC. The laboratory was initially created as a collaboration between the Tennessee Valley Authority, which provided equipment and funds, and the Division of Mineral Resources of the North Carolina Department of Conservation and Development, which provided the building. State Geologist and NC State professor Jasper L. Stuckey was involved in securing the initial contract for the laboratory and served as its founding director.

After receiving a loan of $2,000,000 worth of diesel engines from the U.S. Navy, the College of Engineering launched a graduate program in diesel engineering.

Twenty-two women were listed on the faculty, most at the instructor or laboratory technician level. Departments with more than one woman employee included English (six), statistics (three), textiles (three), and modern languages (two). Women were also on the faculty in architecture, agricultural economics, mathematics, physics, social studies, chemistry, engineering, research, and agronomy.

Over 200 citizens gathered for a ceremony at the newly-opened Riddick Laboratory. The lab building, constructed for $1,300,000, was dedicated to Dr. Wallace Carl Riddick. Dr. Riddick was NC State's first dean of engineering and the university's fourth president.

LeRoy Martin was awarded a master of engineering in mathematics degree. He later helped to establish the computer science program at NC State.

State College admitted two African American graduate students into the School of Engineering: Robert Clemons and Hardy Liston. Clemons became the college's first black graduate. Liston withdrew and didn't complete his degree.

The North Carolina General Assembly provided support for the establishment of the Industrial Experiment Program, a service which expanded upon existing extension services in the School of Engineering to provide technical information to small industries. The program was designed to encourage new industry for the state and to increase utilization of the state’s natural resources.

Students worked on a spinner rocket project with a Goodyear Electronic Differential analyzer, which was a type of electronic analog computer.

The Department of Physics moved from the School of Engineering and became a founding department in the new School of Physical Science and Applied Mathematics.

Financial support for engineering extension doubled under North Carolina’s State Technical Services Act and the Public Works and Economic Development Act. The Industrial Experiment Program was renamed the Industrial Extension Service, which was more indicative of its function. The School of Engineering continued its extension classes in industrial centers in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point, and the school frequently offered upper-level and graduate course work at the centers.

Anna Clyde Fraker, a native of Greenville, TN, graduated with a BS in chemistry from Furman University in 1957. She became the first woman to receive an advanced degree in engineering at NC State when she received a master's degree in metallurgical engineering in the Department of Mineral Industries.

A Mercury space capsule, on loan from NASA, was one of the exhibits displayed at the annual Engineers' Fair.

The School of Engineering installed the first half of an analog computer system on campus, known as a PACE computer. The system was manufactured by Electronics Associates.

NC State received its first National Science Foundation grant to create a science development plan in order to strengthen faculties in the biosciences; support materials, mechanics and electrotechnics in engineering; and support the social sciences.

Samia Galal Abdel Hamid Saad of Alexandria, Egypt, became the first woman to receive a PhD in civil engineering at NC State.

Rajendra Pachauri was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree. He previously earned a MS degree in 1972. In 2007, he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Hubert Winston became the first African American faculty member in the College of Engineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering. Dr. Winston was also the first African American to earn a PhD from the College of Engineering while studying chemical engineering.

Civil engineering alumnus Colonel William “Bill” D. Alexander III was named the 1976 recipient of the College of Engineering’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Alexander contributed his engineering skills to the moon landings of the Apollo program in the 1960s as project manager for the design of the NASA Launch Support Facility.

He served in the position until he was named interim chancellor in 1989.

Calvin H. Carter Jr. was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree. He previously earned a BS degree in 1977 and a MS degree in 1980. He became co-founder of Cree, Inc., and was a 2002 recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

Cree, the world's first manufacturer of energy-saving blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs), was established. It arose out of a process developed by Calvin H. Carter Jr. and other former students of Robert Davis.

Eight of the university's academic schools were designated as colleges.

The Department of Computer Science was transferred from the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences to the College of Engineering.

Christine Grant, a professor in chemical engineering, became the first African American woman appointed as faculty member in the College of Engineering.

A campus street was named for Katharine Stinson, the first woman to graduate from NC State's School of Engineering. Katharine Stinson Drive, formerly North Yarbrough Drive, was one of the longest streets on campus.

The Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program was established. Fifty-six freshman women with majors in PAMS and the College of Engineering joined the program in its first year. As of 2009, the "living and learning village" included 256 women majoring in five colleges across campus, and a high school chapter was established at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics.

NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) Systems was established to develop technology that revolutionized the power grid and increased energy production from solar panels, wind farms, fuel cells and other renewable sources into homes and businesses.

Dr. Christine Grant, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, was awarded the 2012 Stanley C. Israel Regional Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences.

The NSF Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST) was established to create self-powered devices to help people monitor their health and understand how the surrounding environment affects it. With both the ASSIST and FREEDM centers, NC State became the only university with two NSF engineering research centers.

Fitts-Woolard Hall opened as a 225,000 square-foot engineering innovation building. Fitts-Woolard Hall brought the College of Engineering together on Centennial Campus by serving as the home for the Dean’s Administration; the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering; and the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and System Engineering.