I am taking my little brother (14) on a tour of campus this Saturday to help him fulfill the requirements for a school project. He wants to get into engineering of the mechanical or electrical types, and I was a CSC guy so I have no idea what super cool stuff there is for him to see.

Is that car that drives itself on campus somewhere for him to look at?

Are there any buildings with neat projects that we can see while we're there?

I'm looking for engineering related stuff and educational materials. We'll also go see the brickyard and the new (awesome) library on centennial and Hillsborough Street.

9/17/2013 3:20:09 PM

Those echo caves in the brickyard (i forgot their proper name) are pretty cool.

9/17/2013 3:40:51 PM

http://www.ne.ncsu.edu/nrp/pulstar.html

9/17/2013 3:43:04 PM

Quote :

"Tours of the PULSTAR Reactor Facility are available to academic groups internal and external to NC State University, and to prospective facility users. Tours are by appointment only and must be scheduled at least two weeks in advance of the tour date. Photo ID's are required to be presented for every person attending the tour. No cell phones, cameras, bags (e.g. backpacks, purses, etc...), or weapons are allowed in the reactor facility."

shit

9/17/2013 3:53:12 PM

The "green" house over near western and gorman.

9/17/2013 3:58:00 PM

The paper machine in Biltmore is cool, but you're not going to be able to get in there on a Saturday most likely.

9/17/2013 4:20:33 PM

The leaky nuclear reactor? http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/abc11_investigates&id=8805025

[Edited on September 17, 2013 at 4:30 PM. Reason : (burlington nuclear lab)]

9/17/2013 4:29:01 PM

go people-watching at places where engineering students congregate

point out how awkward they are

convince him not to go into engineering

9/17/2013 7:31:51 PM

^ weak stereotype. I double majored in engineering and outside of the awkward foreigners and a few protypical nerds, most of the people I studied with were normal people who knew how to have good time.

9/18/2013 7:37:23 AM

^Agreed. lewisje probably also thinks that all engineers have a neckbeard and live in their mother's basement too. Despite the fact that engineers consistently have one of the highest starting salaries and unemployment rates in the country.


I'm not sure what will be open on campus on Saturday. I was in aerospace back when I was at State but all the mechanical and aerospace stuff has moved to Centennial since then so all I know is that their stuff is in EB3. You might be able to catch a glimpse of one of the wind tunnels or maybe some old senior design projects lying around. If your brother does end up in engineering, send me a message in a few years when he is studying and I'll try and hook him up with an internship or something at NASA. I'm always on the lookout for NCSU students/alum when it comes to filling jobs here.

[Edited on September 18, 2013 at 9:12 AM. Reason : ]

[Edited on September 18, 2013 at 9:12 AM. Reason : ]

9/18/2013 9:10:33 AM

Quote :

"Those echo caves in the brickyard (i forgot their proper name) are pretty cool. "

The wolf ears are one of my favorite things to show folks on campus. The bamboo structures are along Hillsborough street are always cool. A tour of the library might be a good bet. It's pretty impressive what they've done with the "new" wing, and nine floors of books is awesome. [/CHASS]

9/18/2013 10:03:54 AM

yeah I would add in a tour of Hunt library. I got a tour last month and it's impressive

9/18/2013 10:31:56 AM

Quote :

"Agreed. lewisje probably also thinks that all engineers have a neckbeard and live in their mother's basement too. Despite the fact that engineers consistently have one of the highest starting salaries and unemployment rates in the country."

he also thinks that terrible, terrible comics are funny, so i wouldn't put that much weight into who he stereotypes as "awkward".

9/18/2013 10:39:44 AM

Swing by the Aerial Robotics Club in EB-III, it's on floor 2, which is the same floor as the main entrance, to the left of the stairs. Ohh... Saturday... You might be able to get in the front doors (security? what's that?). The room has big windows, and you can look inside. Probably not students, though. Stupid key-cards limit door access times.

Make sure to visit the 3-D printer in the library (makerspace, or some-such? Ask the guys at the front, they have lots of info, and don't get too many questions). There are also gaming areas, music rooms, and the book-bot, and you can check out arduinos and other fun & geeky stuff.

If you make it back during the week, or would like to be put in touch with some folks in the MAE department, PM me. It'd be pretty easy to get you a quick look at the aero senior design labs (building wings and stuff), the Mech senior design labs (shop tools, mostly) the wind-tunnel, maybe the water-jet cutter (it's somewhat new, I think they still like showing it off).

9/18/2013 11:18:47 AM

^This early in the semester the aero seniors won't be in the labs building anything.

And I just realized I said that engineers have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, doh! Meant the complete opposite .

9/18/2013 11:44:17 AM

What's the deal with entrance to the new library? Can you just show up on weekends and walk around? What about weekdays?

9/18/2013 11:54:12 AM

yeah, whenever

9/18/2013 12:03:45 PM

You need a student id past 10pm

9/18/2013 12:39:19 PM

cool, thanks

9/18/2013 12:43:30 PM

Quote :

"one of the highest starting salaries and unemployment rates in the country."

So, they make tons of money and lots of them are unemployed? lol

9/18/2013 1:58:48 PM

^Welcome to 5 posts ago.

9/19/2013 9:31:27 AM

Quote :

"he also thinks that terrible, terrible comics are funny"

they're not terrible, and this one in particular explains why the OP's little brother shouldn't major in engineering

9/19/2013 10:35:43 AM

take it to chit-chat weirdo

9/19/2013 10:37:56 AM

^^what does that have to do with engineering?

9/20/2013 10:44:25 PM

guess what engineering majors don't have

9/21/2013 9:59:33 PM

Noses?

9/21/2013 10:22:30 PM

^^if we took you as an example, I would say penises. Or they wished they didn't.

9/21/2013 11:27:48 PM

Quote :

"guess what engineering majors don't have"

and you chose NC State, why?

9/21/2013 11:39:52 PM

rofl some people don't know me that well around these Internets

I went to IU (which has no engineering programs) and graduated as a math major, I've been trolling CrazyWeb forums for like 10 years because I ♥ the format so much

now not to say we're social butterflies or anything

9/22/2013 6:56:24 PM

my apologies for assuming you were a State student

oh wait, but you're assuming all kinds of shit about engineers...

9/23/2013 12:11:35 AM

Not sure if you already went with him, but if you give me a heads up, I can set up the Navy simulator for him to mess around with.

9/23/2013 12:24:58 AM

^I'm so jealous. That looks head and shoulders above all of the Navy-owned simulators I've used.

9/23/2013 2:16:11 AM

Yeah we went last weekend. We'll definitely have to try again during the week, pretty much everywhere is locked down. I couldn't get in to see anything but the library (which is pretty cool).

9/23/2013 2:45:30 PM

If you went to a school that didn't have an engineering program how do you have any idea what engineering students are like?

9/23/2013 7:44:59 PM

All I'm saying, lewisje, is that engineers are born this way. Its not a choice.

[Edited on September 23, 2013 at 9:06 PM. Reason : .]

9/23/2013 9:05:58 PM

^

amirite?

9/23/2013 9:25:55 PM

ahahahaha

9/23/2013 9:44:04 PM

[Edited on September 23, 2013 at 11:46 PM. Reason : ]

9/23/2013 11:46:16 PM