Programs

The Engineering Place is dedicated in providing equitable and inclusive programming, impacting all students, including underserved and underrepresented students not typically represented in engineering fields, through its many K-12 programs for students and teachers. TEP also participates in community programs, generating interest and excitement about engineering and associated careers.

Additional programs may be added, so be sure to Sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know of these and other opportunities. 

Click on the event titles for the registration form. Links will be added as registrations open. Visit each program description (below the schedule) for more information. Note that Solar House programs will be added later in the fall.

2024-25 Schedule

Fall 2024

Event	Date	Time
Día de la Ciencia y la Cultura @ NC Science Museum	8/3	10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Waccamaw Siouan STEM Day	9/7	8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Science Olympiad Coaches Conference	10/19	All Day
Bridging the Gap Teacher Session	10/23
Family STEM Night	10/24	6:00 – 7:15 p.m.
TechnoQuest	11/9	10:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Family STEM Night	11/21	6:00 – 7:15 p.m.

Spring 2025

Event	Date	Time
Family STEM Night	1/16	6:00 – 7:15 p.m.
Future City	1/25	All Day
EB&B (MS)	1/31	All Day
Family STEM Night	2/13	6:00 – 7:15 p.m.
EB&B (HS)	2/21	All Day
Boys & Girls Club Teen Summit	3/1	All Day
Family STEM Night	3/27	6:00 – 7:15 p.m.
FEDD	4/11	Sessions throughout the day
Family STEM Night	4/17	6:00 – 7:15 p.m.

Program Descriptions

Learn more about each of our programs!

• Summer Programs
• Engineering Bits & Bytes Days
• Engineering on the Road
• Family STEM Engineering Nights
• NCSU COE Freshman Engineering Design Day (FEDD)
• Future City Program
• The Solar House
• Project Lead the Way
• Workshops
• Consulting Services
• Special Programs

Summer Programs

The College of Engineering plans and executes extensive summer programs for rising Kindergarten to 12th-grade students each summer. From week long day camps to residential stays, these programs introduce students to engineering through hands-on activities and problem-solving. Students spend the week with other like-minded students and gain exposure to engineering, NC State and university life. Learn more!

The Solar House

Are you ready to embark on a journey toward a sustainable future? Are you curious about renewable energy and its tremendous potential? We offer Solar House visits for individuals and groups interested in learning more about sustainability, renewable energy, and how they can reduce their energy consumption.

The primary purpose of the Solar House is STEM education and outreach. Anyone seeking information on solar home construction or personal home improvements should contact the NC Clean Energy Technology Center.

Family STEM Engineering Nights

School-Hosted Program

Family STEM Engineering Nights are all about family, fun, and engineering! Our team of NC State Engineering Ambassadors, student volunteers, and faculty will come to your school and provide fun, engaging, and hands-on activities to inspire and excite everyone in attendance!  Ten different stations are set up in either the cafeteria/gym and/or classrooms and families engage in the different stations at their own pace.

We are currently scheduling for the entire 2023-2024 academic year. While we wish we could come to every school interested in our program, we have limited availability each year. If we can’t make it this year, please be sure to sign up again next year!

Dinner for the NCSU students is the only cost to the school, thanks to a partnership with Duke Energy!

Details

• Schools must be ~20 miles or under from the NCSU campus in Raleigh, NC.
• The program runs from 6:00 – 7:15 p.m.
• Engineering Activities include Catapults, Straw Rockets, Diaper Dissection, Smores Packaging, Extreme Rollercoasters, Let’s Communicate, Lightbulbs, Foil Boats, Marshmallows Towers, and Tumbling Towers.

Virtual Program

This program is currently on break!

If you have children in grades K-5, we hope you will join us for an evening of fun engineering challenges over Zoom.

Families are invited to join the Engineering Ambassadors and The Engineering Place as we work together to solve two exciting Engineering Design Challenges!

Learn more about NCSU engineering and engineering thinking by using The Engineering Design Process and participating in fun challenges.

Engineering Bits & Bytes Days

Engineering Bits & Bytes Days are STEM curriculum enrichment experiences held on the NC State Centennial campus for students in elementary, middle, and high school — grades K–12. These half-day events include age- and grade-appropriate hands-on engineering activities and often a tour of the Hunt Library, the Entrepreneurship Garage, engineering faculty research labs, or other engineering facilities. For middle school and high school groups, NC State Engineering Ambassadors are available for a Q&A session about admission requirements, scholarships, college life, and suggestions on how best to prepare now for the college experience you want. Detailed information about this program, including the registration form, can be found here.

Engineering on the Road

The Engineering on the Road program brings engineering to life in K-12 schools all over the state of North Carolina. Through interactive demonstrations and hands-on activities linked to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, we illustrate the true nature of engineering — not just the stereotypical view that many people have — to students, teachers, and staff. Programs are customized to meet the needs of the school or organization and for small- and large-group events. We even have an engineering roadshow!

We also participate in other community organizers’ programs, such as math and science nights, career fairs, and workshops.

Please note: Due to limited staff, we are offering this program on a limited basis. Please note we are not able to provide science fair judges.

COE First-Year Engineering Design Day (FEDD)

First-Year Engineering Design Day (FEDD) is an end-of-year opportunity for first-year engineering student teams to showcase their design projects and compete for awards. The projects are completed as part of the E 101 – Introduction to Engineering and Problem-Solving course, allowing students to practice core design concepts during their first year while learning how to work successfully on a design team.

The College of Engineering at North Carolina State University would like to invite you to attend the 24th Annual First-Year Engineering Design Day (FEDD). K12 teachers are invited to bring their students to FEDD on Friday, April 12, 2024. There will be Engineering Ambassadors available to answer any questions during the event.

Check out our pictures from our past events!

FEDD Team Projects

Two Sessions

• Morning Sessions: 9:00 – 10:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (Awards presented from 11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.)
• Afternoon Session: 1:00 – 2:30 p.m., 2:30 – 4:00 p.m. (Awards presented from 3:30 – 4:00 p.m.)

Location

NC State University McKimmon Center for Extension & Continuing Education at 1101 Gorman Street, Raleigh, NC 27606. (corner of Gorman Street & Western Blvd). Parking is available and free.

Registration

Questions?

Email coe-theengineeringplace@ncsu.edu.

Future City Program

Future City NC is a vibrant, authentic, and engineering-aligned real-world experience for middle school students across the state. The Future City program, a national organization and program from DiscoverE, teaches 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade students problem-solving techniques through hands-on, project- and problem-based learning.

Future City is a STEM program for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders attending North Carolina Middle Schools.  The annual competition in January provides participating student teams with an opportunity to present their semester-long Future City project to industry engineers. 

Click here for the official NC Future City website and to learn more about the competition:

Project Lead the Way

PLTW is a program providing activity-, project- and problem-based (APB) instructional design and centers on hands-on, real-world activities, projects and problems that help students understand how the knowledge and skills they develop in the classroom may be applied in everyday life. The APB approach scaffolds student learning through structured activities and projects that empower students to become independent in the classroom and helps them build skillsets to apply to an open-ended design problem. This approach provides students with unique opportunities to work collaboratively, identify problems, apply what they know, persevere through challenges, find unique solutions and lead their own learning.

Through Project Lead The Way (PLTW) programs, students develop in-demand, transportable skills – such as problem-solving, critical and creative thinking, collaboration and communication – that they will use both in school and for the rest of their lives, on any career path they take.

Workshops

The Engineering Place can develop a specific program to meet the needs of many organizations, including K-12 school districts, individual schools, engineering professional organizations, and university departments. Below is a sampling of some of the workshops that we have offered. Contact us at coe-theengineeringplace@ncsu.edu for workshop information.

• Engineering is Elementary Professional Development
• Engineering as Part of Integrated STEM Professional Development
• Encouraging Girls to Pursue STEM* Careers
• Developing Non-traditional K-12 Engineering Activities
• Integrating Engineering into the K-12 Curriculum
• Training in Outreach for Working Engineers
• Designing a STEM School
• Using the Grand Challenges for Engineering as a Basis for Instruction
• Project Lead the Way
  *Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

Consulting Services

• Faculty Grant Writing Assistance
• Unique Program Development to Support Grants
• K-12 Engineering Curriculum Development
• Developing Non-traditional K-12 Engineering Activities
• Engineer Outreach Training