Welcome to the Future
NC State ECE
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Join us for a tour, check out our facilities, and meet some of our amazing students.
Agentic Systems and Deep Neural Networks for Photonic Metamaterials
Willie Padilla
Dr. Paul Wang Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University
is speaking on September 18, 2026.
Welcome to the ECE family! 🎉 We`re thrilled to introduce two new Assistant Professors joining our department this fall: Brittany N. Smith and Wei-Hsi Chen.
Brittany directs our new Fabrication Laboratory for Active Microelectronics (FLAME). This combines cleanroom techniques with 2D-printed electronics to build next-gen sensors, transistors and micro-scale robotics. Think wearables and space tech.
Wei-Hsi leads our Function-Oriented Robotics Geometry and Engineering (FORGE) lab, working to turn robot design into an engineering discipline driven by computational tools and first principles.
We`re proud to have both of them bringing new energy and expertise to NC State ECE! 🙌
Read more: http://ncst.at/RysH50ZJCr6
📡 ECE Assistant Professor Vijay K. Shah is leading a $1M NSF award (with Yale University) to develop ARMANI, AI-native tools that help next-gen 5G/6G wireless networks manage themselves, getting faster, smarter and more reliable.
"It is just as much about people as technology," says Shah, whose lab has become a hub for AI-native 6G research. Graduate and undergraduate students in the lab will get hands-on experience in wireless networking, machine learning and system prototyping as part of the project.
Read more: http://ncst.at/t9ux50ZJC2g
Congratulations to Aydin Aysu, ECE associate professor, on receiving the 2026 DAC Under-40 Innovators Award!
The award honors up to five researchers each year. They`re pushing the boundaries of electronic design and automation. Aysu earned his spot for making hardware security a built-in part of chip design instead of an afterthought.
His lab, HECTOR, tackles the physical side of cybersecurity. It shows how attackers could steal an AI model just by reading a chip`s power signature. Then it builds the defenses to stop it. That work is shaping how we protect AI accelerators and post-quantum cryptographic hardware for years to come.
Congrats again, Aydin!
Earlier this week, NC State announced that Engineering Building II is now Christina Hammock Koch Hall, honoring the three-time NC State graduate whose Artemis II mission carried her around the moon and back. 🚀 🐺
Engineering Building II broke ground in October 2003 and opened in August 2005, just in time for fall classes, becoming home to NC State ECE. It was one of two buildings, alongside Engineering Building I, that formed the start of the Oval on Centennial Campus, funded by North Carolina`s $3.1 billion higher education bond referendum.
As Koch put it: "A building becomes so much more than just a name. It can define everyone`s experiences."
Two decades of ECE students have walked through these doors. Now they walk through hers.
See Yourself Here
NC State’s Centennial Campus is full of landmarks, beautiful outdoor spaces, cutting edge research, state-of-the-art facilities and ways to find — and celebrate with — your community.
Stay updated on ECE’s biggest moments all year long.
As one of only two institutions to be home to two concurrent NSF Engineering Research Centers, one of three NSF Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research Initiatives, the home of the Department of Energy’s PowerAmerica Institute, leads the only North America IBM Quantum Hub, and home to one of The Microelectronics Commons’ Hubs, we are ranked among the top academic units engaged in scientific research in the United States.
