CSC Facilities - New Building Groundbreaking Ceremony, updated story

February 20, 2004

COE Building II Update
Ground work under way at new building site

Through the winter months, ground work has been started on a new building to house the departments of computer science and computer engineering at NC State's College of Engineering.

The new building will be located on Varsity Drive at NC State's Centennial Campus, southeast of the Red Hat building. Construction is scheduled for completion in 2005.

Groundbreaking for the facility, currently called Engineering Building II, was held Oct. 24. The building will provide teaching, research and office space for more than 2,800 computer science and computer and electrical engineering students.

The $35 million facility, funded by the University of North Carolina Higher Education Bond Referendum, is the second phase in the relocation of the College of Engineering to Centennial Campus.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Chancellor Marye Anne Fox said: “To all of you, special thanks for the support that you gave us ... with this bond referendum. It is the opportunity that provides facilities that will change the lives of our students, the lives of our faculty, and therefore the lives of all North Carolinians.”

The new building will provide about 210,000 gross square feet of space for classrooms, research areas and offices for the two departments that are currently housed in at least nine different areas of the NC State campus.

“This new building will ... be a symbol of our collective commitments to the continued excellence in computer science and electrical and computer engineering. It will be a symbol that will be noticed by top faculty and students alike. The return on this investment will grow beyond measure,” said keynote speaker Thomas McPherson, former president and CEO of Hatteras Networks.

“You all know how strong our students are,” Fox said. “The average GPA in our freshman class is well over 4.0 and the SAT is well over 1,200. These are incredibly bright people who could go virtually anywhere they wanted ... they’ve come to North Carolina State because this is a university for the future ... a place where public-private partnerships have blossomed ... (partnerships that provide) internships and co-ops for our students, that in collaboration with our faculty are designing our future, providing new means (to) have the quality of live in North Carolina that we ... deserve.”

Fox cited one of computer science’s Senior Design Center project teams as an example of the quality students who choose NC State. The student team had earned third place at the IEEE Computer Society International Design Competition—the only U.S. team in the finals.

Computer science department faculty and staff attended the groundbreaking, along with a number of alumni and students. [View photos].

Those wishing to support the Department of Computer Science through financial contributions may wish to consider the naming opportunities available with the new building. Details are available in the Naming Rights portion of the ePartners site.

- rzewnicki -