Centennial Campus and the 21st Century

Building infrastructure on Centennial Campus (UA 023.028)

With the addition of over 1000 acres of land, planning began in 1988 to move the College of Engineering's teaching and research activities to the new Centennial Campus.  Due to rapid growth of research in the Materials Science and Engineering department, the department expanded into two new buildings on Centennial Campus: Research Building I and the Engineering Graduate Research Center (later renamed the Monteith Center). Department head John Hren led the department’s involvement with the evolution of Centennial Campus and its research facilities.  A 1986 annual report remarks on early discussions of “South Campus,” what would become Centennial, and asserts that Materials Engineering, “has proposed to become intimately involved in the planning of an Engineering Research Center now being organized and promoted by the School of Engineering… It is intended that we have available at one location the means (equipment and personnel) to produce novel materials under our complete control and, in parallel, we have the ability to characterize these materials as completely as possible.”[1]

Research Building I, under construction and completed (UA 023.028 and UA 023.005)

As development of new facilities on Centennial Campus progressed, portions of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering moved into Research Building I, the first building to open on the new extension of campus.  As the department entered the 1990s, faculty and personnel were dispersed across nine different buildings, including Riddick Hall and Burlington Laboratories on North Campus, Research Building I on Centennial Campus, and the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina (MCNC) and Research Triangle Institute located in Triangle Research Park. Despite the challenges of having departmental activities spread across multiple locations in the area, Centennial Campus provided necessary and increasingly fertile ground for new research. In 1989, approximately one-fourth of undergraduate students in the department were employed through research grants, mostly operating on Centennial Campus, and the department's annual report asserted that "the second floor of Research Building I on Centennial Campus has become one of the most advanced facilities for Materials Processing in the country." [1989-1990 annual report]

The Analytical Instrumentation Facility (AIF), founded in 1986 as a product of the Engineering Research Services Division, occupied a new building in the Engineering Graduate Research Center, later named the Monteith Research Center, on Centennial Campus. Led by Materials Science and Engineering professor P.E. Russell and a board of directors including department head John Hren, the AIF was created to support research and extension work in the College of Engineering, featuring work in materials as a central facet of its operations.  Dr. Hren was granted responsibility for personnel and equipment related to materials research, characterization, and analysis.

Engineering Graduate Research Center (later named the Monteith Research Center), under construction and completed on Centennial Campus (UA 023.028)

Fitting with the vision of Centennial Campus, the AIF provided a place for the interaction of academic disciplines with industry and government.  In 1992, research and extension at the AIF comprised a substantial amount of activity by Materials Science and Engineering faculty. Dr. H. Stadelmaier was frequently consulted as "the resident expert in x-ray techniques," in addition to Dr. G. Rozgonyi who oversaw specialized x-ray equipment and often provided counsel for industrial users. The department reported that users from private industry seeking to use AIF equipment also frequently required advice in materials, and "many of our faculty participate in such informaland formal consultations. Some interactions lead to projects or formal consulting arrangements. Most result simply in free expert advice." [1991-1992 annual report] 

By the mid 1990s, space problems for the department of Materials Science and Engineering worsened due to rapidly expanding research programs. The department's research programs reaching $4 million by 1996 resulted in distribution of faculty among Riddick Hall, Burlington Research Laboratories, Research Building I, II, and III, and the Engineering Graduate Research Center, as well as other on- and off-campus locations. 

Mike Rigsbee came to NC State University in 1998 as Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.  Prior to leading the department at NC State, Dr. Rigsbee was Chair of the Department of Minerals and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alabama, 1993-1998, and taught at the University of Illinois 1979-1993.  He served as Senior Research Metallurgist at the Republic Steel Corporate Research Center before entering academia.  Dr. Rigsbee's research focused on phase transformations, surface engineering technologies, and materials characterization of metallic and ceramic systems.

By 2000, research expenditures per full time faculty member was the highest in the College of Engineering, at an average of $359,000 per faculty member. [MSE Academic Advisory Committee 2000, UA 105.014]  Departmental reports affirmed that the department was well positioned to partner with government and industry in critical areas of growth such as nanotechnology and biomaterials. Research programs spanned topics ranging from theoretical studies of nanotubes and experimental studies of hardness at the atomic level to the deposition of dielectric films, control of defects in silicon crystals, design of smart materials, semiconducturs, and nanostructured materials. Departmental research sponsors included government sponsors NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency, The Army Research Office, and Department of Energy; industrial sponsors included Intel Corporation, Texas Instruments, Toshiba, The American Chemical Society, Procter and Gamble Co., and Glaxo-Wellcome, Inc.

An Academic Advisory Committee was created to perform a review of the Materials Science and Engineering department in 2000.  The report, compiled by colleagues at peer institutions, stated that "through its activities in research and in education, the Department advances the University's reputation and supports the state's economy by producing well trained, highly motivated graduates, by creating new materials and processes, and by commercializing many of its materials-related developments through technology licenses and start-up corporations." [Report of Academic Advisory Committee, 2000, UA 105.014] Research by faculty and students in the department made a commercial impact through the creation of companies such as Cree Research, C3, Nitronex, Kymatech, Tribo Films, Prematec, and Glacis.

A frequent issue identified in departmental reports and in the review by the Academic Advisory Committee was the dispersion of faculty across different facilities both on and off campus. The Academic Advisory Committee's 2000 report commented that, "the Department is handicapped by not having its research and teaching laboratories consolidated at a common location." [Report of Academic Advisory Committee, 2000, UA 105.014] 

An answer to this need came in 2004, when the department moved into Engineering Building I on Centennial Campus.  The relocation of faculty and personnel to this site strengthened cohesion of the department and facilitated great collaboration both within the department and in interdisciplinary partnerships.  

Engineering Building II, under construction (MC 00336)

Justin Schwartz became head of the department in 2009. Schwartz previously taught at Florida State University,1993-2005, and at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Schwartz received his bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering in 1985 from the University of Illinois and his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1990. His research focuses on the development of high-temperature superconducting materials that offer zero resistance to electrical current, which he described as having "enormous potential for a number of applications, including power systems, high-energy physics devices and medical applications.” [https://www.mse.ncsu.edu/news/florida-state-professor-named-mse-department-head]

Dr. Schwartz received the NC State University Diversity Award in 2011, in recognition of his efforts to advocate diversity and inclusiveness in the University community and in the department.