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.
From AI Agent Demo to Production: Automated Testing and Evaluation via User Simulation
Zhou Yu
Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University
is speaking on September 4, 2026.
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.
🤖 Exciting partnership news for ECE!
NC State`s College of Engineering is joining Red Hat`s asago (AI Safety And Governance Orchestration) community to help build safer, more accountable AI systems.
ECE Professor Edgar Lobaton, director of applied AI for the College of Engineering, is helping lead NC State`s involvement, working to turn complex AI policy guidelines into automated, production-ready safeguards.
Partnerships like this connect our ECE research strength in AI security directly to what industry needs next.
Proud to see our department at the center of responsible AI innovation!
Read more: http://ncst.at/m3M550ZygV2
🌿 Pokeweed to the rescue! ECE Professor Michael Kudenov co-led a DARPA-funded study developing a UV spectroscopy technique that measures rare earth elements — like dysprosium, used in magnets for EVs, wind turbines and smartphones — as they build up inside plant tissue. Partnering with NC State`s Colleen Doherty, the team used the humble pokeweed plant to advance "phytomining," a method that could one day help clean up industrial waste sites while recovering critical minerals the U.S. needs to reduce its reliance on foreign supply chains. Great to see ECE engineering expertise applied to sustainability and national security challenges! 🔬 Read more: http://ncst.at/HwIj50Ztgzf
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.
