The Engineering Village will move from Metcalf and Bowen to Sullivan Residence Hall in the 2019-20 academic year.

With a current population of about 530 students, the Engineering Village encompasses the entirety of Metcalf and the top three floors of Bowen, according to Chester Miller, director of living and learning initiatives and the founding director of the Engineering Village from fall 2017.

According to Niko Brown, director of the Engineering Village, to further accomplish the village’s goals, leaders have worked to house the village in a single residence hall, which was made possible by the Scholars Village moving to the Honors Quad next semester.

“The demand has been very high for the village – we expanded into Bowen this year,” Brown said. “We feel like the move to Sullivan will let us get everyone back under one roof so we can foster one strong identity of being in the Engineering Village.”

According to Brown, moving to Sullivan also offers space to expand the accessibility of technology to more students.

The village’s makerspace of high-powered workstations and 3D printers is currently located in a standard-sized dorm room in Metcalf, limiting the amount of students who can utilize the space, Brown said. In Sullivan, the computer lounge will be transitioned into a new makerspace to increase the access to the technology.

The increase in available space in Sullivan will also allow the village to host larger events with industry partners, like Autodesk, Texas Instruments and Intel, Brown said.

“The quicker we can start connecting the thread of first-year students into their majors and into careers beyond that and have the path laid out,” Brown said. “It’s going to add a lot of value.”

The proximity of Sullivan to the Women in Science and Engineering Village in Lee and the EcoVillage in Bragaw is an added bonus to the move, Brown said.

“It lends itself really well to collaboration between the villages,” Brown said. “With those three villages in close proximity it can become a STEM hub on the western part of campus.”

Miller said the move will help the Engineering Village live up to NC State’s motto.

“We need to be forward-thinking about how we create the best opportunities for our students to succeed by giving them access to resources, not just the technology,” Miller said.  “We want to provide a space that is conducive to academic support, the best opportunity for the students to be successful and to really embody the whole notion of ‘Think and Do.’”