CSC News
NC State Celebrates Dedication of Engineering Building II
Engineering Building II, which represents the second phase of the plan to move the entire College of Engineering to Centennial Campus, houses the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Computer Science. The building, which cost more than $46M to build, was funded through the passing of the Bond Referendum of 2000 by the citizens of North Carolina.
Dr. James L. Oblinger, chancellor of the university, and Dr. Nino A. Masnari, dean of the College of Engineering, were joined on the stage by speakers Wendell Murphy, chairman of the NC State Board of Trustees, and keynote speaker, Robert “Bob” McGehee, chairman and CEO of Progress Energy.
During his remarks, Mr. McGehee announced a $1.2 million gift from Progress Energy to support initiatives within the NC State College of Engineering. Part of Achieve! The Campaign for NC State, the gift is the largest given by Progress Energy to the college and will support three endowments. Two of the endowments will be dedicated to professorships, a top priority of the NC State Achieve! campaign.
In recognition of the generous support Progress Energy and their employees have provided to the College of Engineering, the bridge, terrace and conference rooms in EBII will bear Progress Energy’s name. Located on the third floor of the new building, the Progress Energy area includes two large conference rooms, a brick terrace and the bridge that connects to two wings of the building.
Following his keynote remarks, Mr. McGehee was presented an original pastel of the new building.
“ The completion of Engineering Building II 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.”
Approximately 300 alumni, faculty & staff, students, corporate guests, dignitaries, and friends attended the event. Following the dedication speeches, guests were invited to find their named bricks on the “Pathway to the Future”, and take a guided or self-paced tour the facility leading to a reception in the new Progress Energy conference room on the 3rd floor bridge.
We would like to thank everyone who joined us on this special day in the life of the department. We also extend appreciation to our corporate sponsors of the event: Cisco Systems, EMC, IBM, Network Appliance, Progress Energy, Red Hat, and Tekelec.
EBII – The Building
The 210,000 square feet facility contains several prominent features including two massive 3-story tall atriums, and a connector bridge over an exposed breezeway which boasts two large executive conference rooms.
Housed within the east wing of EBII is a DELTA Teleclassroom, providing students access to a variety of distance education opportunities. And the Center for Visualization and Analytics (CVA), which supports the use of visualization technology and analytical methods to explore engineering, scientific, design and educational challenges, has plans to construct a high-tech demo room in EB2 complete with sophisticated VizWall and Access Grid.
Port City Java also plans to open a gourmet coffee shop and café in the building later this year.
EBII contains 50 research labs, as well as nine state-of the art classrooms of various sizes with 785 seats. Each classroom is equipped with the latest in instructional technologies including ergonomic consoles and touch screen panels providing instructors control over a variety of media including networked computing, document cameras, and VCR/DVD devices, as well as control of classroom audio and high-quality LCD projection. Students enjoy wireless Internet connectivity throughout the classrooms in EB2, and work is underway to expand wireless access throughout the rest of the facility.
Teaching and research labs within EB2 are filled with the latest equipment and software, in many cases donated by corporate partners such as SAS, Cisco Systems, EMC, Microsoft, OPNET Technologies, IBM, Network Appliance, and many more of classroom, laboratory and office space.
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Photos by Becky Kirkland
Related Stories & Sites:
http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/news/gifts/PE.gift.html
http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/news/news_articles/EBIIDedication.html
http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/promise/engr_building2.php
http://www.csc.ncsu.edu/news/news_item.php?id=311
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