News and Notes From the College of Engineering and Technology Summer 2025
CET celebrates R1 designation
It’s not just research that helped East Carolina University secure the Research 1 (R1) designation. It’s research with purpose, and the College of Engineering and Technology is an example.
The American Council on Education and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching designated ECU as an R1 university, placing it among 5% of institutions in the nation that are recognized for having the highest level of research activity.
“East Carolina University’s designation as an R1 institution is a testament to the incredible dedication and hard work of our faculty, staff and students,” ECU Chancellor Philip Rogers said. “Our university’s success in research is a direct reflection of our mission — advancing student success, public service and regional transformation. This milestone will open doors to more opportunities for collaboration, discovery and academic excellence.”
See R1 on page 2
Dr. Sunghan Kim, associate professor in the Department of Engineering, works with high school students to show them research opportunities at ECU. (Photo by Ken Buday)
Student researchers collect accoustic and weather data in the setting sun as part of a $1 million research project conducted by Dr. Teresa Ryan, chair of the Department of Engineering. (Contributed Photo)
Vilkomir honored with a Treasured Pirate Award
R1
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In a celebration in April that recognized researchers across campus, Dr. Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, described ECU as a model for others, citing its purposeful research that impacts the region, state and nation.
“For me, why create a blueprint for the new American university when it’s right here,” he said. “This is the university that is creating the model for what the American research university will be in the future. Period. End.”
As an example, Dr. Teresa Ryan, engineering professor and new chair of the Department of Engineering, secured a $1.06 million grant from the Office of Naval Research to
Aleksei Vilkomir, teaching instructor in the Department of Computer Science, received a Treasured Pirate Award from Chancellor Philip Rogers and Provost Chris Buddo.
The award recognizes exemplary efforts made by faculty and staff whose distinguished contributions further ECU’s mission of student success, public service and regional transformation.
Vilkomir serves as the undergraduate program coordinator for software engineering and has been involved in numerous community outreach events, such as a STEM night at a local elementary school. He also provided support to students learning computer programming at Greene Central High School. (See page 6)
At ECU, Vilkomir also serves as the faculty advisor for the Students Software Society organization.
continue her work on acoustics, a project that could protect military personnel from enemy forces. Since 2015, Ryan has secured $1.2 million in research funding from five previous grants to study various aspects of atmospheric sound propagation.
Students from throughout the college presented research as part of ECU’s annual Research and Creativity Achievement Week. Projects focused on everything from breast cancer to optimization of wastewater wetland cells that are designed to help remove potentially harmful nutrients from the environment.
Since 2022, CET faculty members have secured nine grants totaling $4.1 million from the Civil Military Innovation Institute for research work that includes assessment of whole blood airdropped to help wounded service members on the battlefield to
a database system designed to help with operations for the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, which is based in North Carolina.
CET research highlights the collaboration of faculty, students and funding organizations that work together to solve problems, collaborations that will only increase with the R1 designation.
“Receiving the R1 designation is a significant achievement not just for the university but for the entire region,” said Dr. Sharon Paynter, chief innovation and engagement officer and interim chief research officer at ECU. “It will bring new resources, new collaborations and new opportunities that will help address global challenges and contribute to the local economy. We are excited for what the future holds for our students, faculty and the Pirate Nation.”
Chancellor Philip Rogers, left, stands with Aleksei Vilkomir, center, and Provost Chris Buddo during the awards ceremony. (Photo by Steven Mantilla)
Congratulations Graduates
The College of Engineering and Technology celebrated nearly 500 gradutes in the Class of 2025 during ceremonies on May 9. To view more photographs, go to the college’s Facebook photo gallery.
CET students receive prestigious Wright awards
Lauded for their genuine compassion, bold leadership and mission-centered initiative, two College of Engineering and Technology students were among five East Carolina University 2025 recipients of the Robert H. Wright Leadership Award by the ECU Alumni Association.
Hannah Blackburn and Jethro Libutan have each been recognized as exemplars of Servire and honored for the impact they have made at ECU. The other recipients are Christine Chan, Alessio Fratarcangeli and Alexander R. Fisher. The award is one of the most prestigious given to undergraduate seniors. It is named for Wright, the first president of East Carolina Teachers Training School and East Carolina Teachers College.
The recipients honor his legacy of using leadership to influence positive change through their academic achievement, integrity and service. The students were recognized during ECU’s spring commencement ceremony on May 9.
Hannah Blackburn
Blackburn, an Honors College student from Lumberton, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in engineering with a biomedical concentration.
In 2022, Blackburn founded the ECU Chapter of the Helping Hand Project (HHP) and served as president for two years before supporting the group in an advisory role. She has overseen the creation of 3D-printed assistive devices and collaborated with national HHP chapters to foster local community engagement. Blackburn has been involved in leadership with the Engineering Honor Society, Tau Beta Pi, Society of Women Engineers and the Biomedical Engineering Society throughout her time at ECU.
In nominating her, Chris Venters, associate professor, Department of Engineering, said: “Hannah’s impact on ECU and the broader community
is substantial. It is her passion, compassion and resolve to be a force of good in the world that really set her above most,” he said. “She embodies the phrase ‘lead through example’ and ECU’s motto, Servire.”
Blackburn said the support she received from across ECU to support the Helping Hands Project inspires her and gives her hope for future collaboration between health care, technology, design and research to advance opportunities to improve the quality of life for all people.
Blackburn said ECU has provided a firm foundation that has allowed her and others to leap into the next phase of life with confidence and compassion. “This is a place where
students walk alongside each other, instructors light the path ahead, and community members engage brilliant minds to help us serve each other and grow together,” she said.
Jethro Libutan
Libutan, a Brinkley-Lane Scholar from Durham, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in computer science and a minor in music.
Keiko Sekino, associate professor of piano, served as advisor for Libutan’s signature honors project that explored the connection between music and mathematics through the study and performance of classical piano repertoire. She describes Libutan as a gifted student whose interests and abilities come into a singular focus through his wish to make positive impact in the world and to contribute to efforts in community building and addressing socioeconomic inequalities.
“It is a joy to work with someone with Jethro’s combination of innate musicality and intellectual gifts to prepare for a recital of classical solo piano repertoire,” she said. “Jethro has exhibited exceptional leadership qualities across many disciplines and has applied his technical and marketing expertise, creative knowledge and community-building skills to make positive impact.”
Among his accomplishments, Libutan served as the student lead on a $1.2 million U.S. Army-funded research project focused on developing a new airdrop database and website to improve mission planning for the 82nd Airborne Division.
“What makes me most proud to be an ECU Pirate is knowing that I’ve been able to make a meaningful impact through the work I’ve done here,” Libutan said. “It’s always been a life goal of mine to positively impact the communities I’m part of. That’s why I wanted to go into tech in the first place: to build things that make a positive impact in the world.”
Jethro Libutan, left, shows instructors and administrators a database that he helped develop as part of research for the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. (Photo by Steven Mantilla)
Hannah Blackburn works during a Helping Hand Project meeting in the Science and Technology Building. (Photo by Rhett Butler)
CET students excel in first semester
Freshmen and transfer students who achieved a 3.0 GPA in their first semesters at ECU — and the faculty and staff members who helped them along the way — were honored during ECU Excels in the ballrooms of the Main Campus Student Center.
Students participated in a scavenger hunt, enjoyed snacks and met with faculty and staff mentors they selected to be part of the celebration.
“I can’t believe the energy in this room. This is really exciting,” Chris Buddo, provost and senior vice chancellor for the Division of Academic Affairs, told the more than 750 attendees.
Faculty and staff from the college set up a table during
the event to recognize its student honorees.
Computer science student Ashlie Kearns of Fayetteville stood next to Dr. Linda Campion, associate director of ECU’s Center for Student Success.
“I feel like she was one who would listen to students and take into consideration any problems that we would have,” Kearns said of Campion. “She made me feel comfortable so I could tell her my problems. I feel she’s a great influence and is always very positive. She looks on the brighter side of things, and she’s very funny. She wanted me to do better, and it’s nice to make her proud.”
“She’s doing great in school, and I’m ecstatic,” Campion said of Kearns.
CET’s state service award recipients
Congratulations to Randy Godwin, left photo, CET technical support analyst, Dr. Tijjani “TJ” Mohammed, center photo, chair of the Department of Technology Systems, and Dr. Sharon Rouse, teaching assistant professor in the Department of Technology Systems, on receiving state service awards for 30 years of service to North Carolina. They were recognized during a ceremony in the Main Campus Student Center ballrooms. (Photos by Steven Mantilla)
Computer science student Ashlie Kearns hugs Dr. Linda Campion during the ECU Excels event in the Main Campus Student Center. (Photo by Ken Buday)
Programming partnership helps high school
Greene Central High School senior Luis Herrera enjoys technology.
“I’m pretty fascinated with robots,” he said. “I think it’s cool writing code.”
Thanks to a partnership between the school and the Department of Computer Science, Herrera and other students got to see their programming code come to life.
The students in Barbara Anderson’s computer science class spent a semester working with computer science and software engineering students and faculty at ECU. The Greene Central students wrote code to program ECU’s NAO robots.
The high school students used a computer application to simulate their programming results. In April, they visited ECU where they loaded their programs onto three NAO robots to see the results in person.
For Herrera, he programmed a speech for the robot, had it walk and raise its arms.
“I had it moving its arms around, but I couldn’t really tell that in the simulation,” said Herrera, who has been accepted at ECU. “Here, I actually saw it do that. I thought it was going to fall over. I would have been a little more careful had I known that. But it’s really cool seeing it actually move in front of me.”
“That’s the beauty of robotics. You can write just a short code statement and see the robot move or react,” said Dr. Nic Herndon, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science.
Aleksei Vilkomir, teaching instructor and undergraduate program coordinator for software engineering at ECU, visited the high school in the small town of Snow Hill.
“I was surprised to see so many people interested in this,” he said.
“The students are very excited. They’re not excited because they think the robots are toys. They’re excited because you can program it and make it do some things that they would like it to do.”
Anderson teaches computer science and graphic design at Greene Central. She said she appreciated the chance to partner with ECU so her students can get some hands-on experience with technology.
“It’s been really nice because we would never have this opportunity because this can be so cost prohibitive,” she said of the robots that cost more than $10,000 each. “It just gives the kids a different exploration that we can’t provide at
the high school. It’s good getting to communicate with the students and the professors here at ECU. It’s been a good experience for the students.”
Starting with freshmen high school students this year, public school students will be required to take a one-credit high school computer science course to graduate. Vilkomir believes that may open the door to more partnerships.
“I think it will be more and more important to use this kind of project with different high schools because it involves programming and also gives students an unusual experience that is also more engaging,” he said. “And engagement is very important with students.”
Greene Central High School students react as a NAO robot raises its hands in a classroom in the Science and Technology Building. The students were part of a class that received programming help from Department of Computer Science faculty and students. (Photo by Ken Buday)
Tech Summit offers life lessons, career advice
Sometimes, life lessons are hard. Other times, they’ll get you 50 bucks.
ECU student Jacob Reinger learned the latter during the Technology Summit in March in the Main Campus Student Center. Reinger received a $50 gift card from presenter Andrew Griffin, a channel solutions engineer with Verkada, a security technology company.
“He was talking about needing to jump on opportunities and then he went silent,” Reinger said. “He said he had something for us, and he held it out and waited for someone to come up and grab it. It took me about 13 seconds to figure out what it was. I figured someone in the front row would pick it up. I’m in row seven, and I just ran out and grabbed it.”
Created by student organizations in the College of Business and Department of Computer Science, the summit focused on career paths and opportunities — or in Reinger’s case, an opportunity for $50. It’s a lesson the sophomore information and cybersecurity technology major from Wilmington won’t soon forget.
“Show up and take the opportunity,” he said.
Griffin said the gift card lesson was one he experienced as a student at ECU. With bachelor’s and master’s degrees in information and cybersecurity technology, he believes the gift card provides an important lesson for students entering the job market.
“The whole purpose is an exercise: The opportunity is there, and it’s up to you to take it,” Griffin said. “It doesn’t matter if there are instructions. It doesn’t matter if you’re unsure. It’s a matter of having confidence, going
up there knowing that you might be embarrassed, get nervous or even look like a fool, but you took the opportunity that no one else did.”
Griffin was among five presenters at the event, which also included panel discussions with industry representatives about career exploration in technology.
Robert Daigle, global artificial intelligence business director at Lenovo and an ECU alumnus, told students that a career path is far from a straight line. After all, he thought he was going to be a police officer.
“No way on my radar was working in artificial intelligence,” he said.
He cited a survey that noted most people would work 12 jobs in their lifetimes and that 92 million jobs would be displaced with 170 million new jobs as technology continues to change the employment landscape.
“You’re preparing for jobs and careers that don’t exist today. … Being flexible and having an openness to change is more important now than ever,” he said.”
Computer Science Awards
Department of Computer Science faculty and staff recognized outstanding seniors, peer tutors, student mentors, student organization officers, scholarship recipients and academic leaders during an awards ceremony in the Bate Building. Congratulations to all our award recipients. (Photo by Ken Buday)
Andrew Griffin, a channel solutions engineer with Verkada and a two-time ECU alumnus, speaks to students during the Technology Summit on March 4. (Photo by Rhett Butler)
Student pens winning essay on AI in industry
Construction management student Chloe Kildea knows where the industry has been.
“The internships I’ve had have all been with people who still like to do things by hand,” Kildea said. “They’ll have thousands of sticky notes around their offices, and they’ll be like from two years ago. One had an old iPod he used.”
But she also knows where the industry is going, thanks to ECU’s construction management program and an essay she wrote to win the national James L. Allhands Student Essay Competition through the Associated General Contractors (AGC) Education and Research Foundation.
The contest prompted participants to write about how artificial intelligence will change construction in the next five years and to address the pros and cons of its effects on the industry and its workers.
“The prompt was really good. I’m not going to lie,” Kildea said. “There were a lot of ideas that came flooding into
Chloe Kildea’s essay on artificial intelligence in the construction industry won the national James L. Allhands Student Essay Competition through the Associated General Contractors Education and Research Foundation. (Photo by Ken Buday)
my mind. It was a great idea to have it as the contest.
“I found a lot of interesting facts when I was researching it. I didn’t realize how much it really was changing the industry. I was so fascinated by how much construction companies are using AI for estimating and equipment things, just the many ways that they’re incorporating it.”
She described the moment she received notification that she had
won the contest as “absolute shock” and needed to confirm the news with Ron Chance, teaching instructor in construction management.
“I saw it and thought, ‘There’s no way.’ At first, I thought it was a scam, but then Mr. Chance emailed it to me too, and he said, ‘Congratulations. This is incredible.’ It was very much a shock. I still can’t really believe it,” Kildea said.
For winning the contest, Kildea received $1,000 and attended the AGC national conference in Columbus, Ohio.
With her mother working for the N.C. Department of Transportation, Kildea became interested in construction and began working first for a private company and later with NCDOT to help build the Interstate 74 beltway in Winston-Salem.
“I really loved going out there and seeing how you can manipulate the land to put a road in,” she said. “It was really rewarding to see how the woods can go to a 70 mph highway and all the work and the strength and the knowledge that went into that.”
Barnhill Signing Day
From left, ECU construction management students Garrett Pannell, Lexie Sessoms, Robert Smith and Aaron Piper commit to jobs with the Barnhill Building Group by signing during a ceremony in the high bay lab of the Science and Technology Building. The event was designed similar to National Signing Day events when high school student-athletes commit to play for a particular university. (Photo by Ken Buday)
Huang receives CET Scholar-Teacher Award
Perhaps no other dogs on campus receive as many odd looks as Little Dee and Pete, the walking robot dogs that Dr. Yilei Huang takes out every so often.
“Most have never seen this before or even imagined it. They really wonder what it is and what does it do,” said Huang, an associate professor in the Department of Construction Management. “We just let them know it’s a robot dog and it’s for construction management. We can have it carry our equipment or it’s for surveying and scanning. You can have the robot scan a building to create maps and models. It obviously gets a lot of attention when we walk it out.”
Huang embraces technology, introducing drones as well as augmented and virtual reality goggles to his students.
“In many people’s opinion, construction is old school, just hammers and nails, but we’re trying to change that,” said Huang, the College of Engineering and Technology Scholar-Teacher Award recipient. “If you don’t know how to use technology from your classes, you’re already behind because these are the tools you’re going to use. They’re out in the field, and that’s why they’re in our classrooms so our students can get that exposure to these technologies.”
He said that integration of technology is just one of the reasons ECU’s construction program is so special.
“This department has only one program. That means all the resources you can get are devoted to this single program,” he said. “The student population is pretty big here. I think we are one of the largest construction management programs in the Southeast. With this big student population, you can accomplish a lot of things in and out of the classroom. We engage undergraduate students in research and have various types of student organization activities.”
Published work details a more sustainable concrete
Dr. Amin Akhnoukh, a construction management professor, has published work that describes a more sustainable process to produce concrete.
Akhnoukh worked with Natrx, a Raleigh sustainable technologies company, to show how dredged river clay could result in stronger concrete that is friendlier to the environment.
Akhnoukh said current concrete production requires high-energy consumption and produces significant carbon dioxide emissions.
He said Natrx approached him about using clay dredged from the York River in Virginia as a contributing compound in concrete. Dredged material from river bottoms is usually disposed, Akhnoukh said.
Initial results didn’t look promising.
“We started by using the material as is, and it was not very successful, so we ended up with the calcination,” Akhnoukh said.
Calcination is a process that involves heating a substance to a high temperature. The calcinated clay was used to replace some cement in the concrete mixture, and Akhnoukh
tested various combinations.
Akhnoukh said using 20% of calcinated clay in concrete mixes produced a stronger product and cut its carbon footprint by about half.
“It’s a recycled material and recycling is always good,” Akhnoukh said. “It’s a possible alternative to cement, and the more we introduce cement alternatives to our concrete mix, the better off and greener our product will be. The more we incorporate these materials, the less cement we consume and the less carbon dioxide is emitted to the environment.”
The Associated Schools of Construction International Conference and the American Concrete Institute published the research results.
Dr. Yilei Huang stands with a robot dog he uses to illustrate the importance of technology in construction. (Photo by Steven Mantilla)
Dr. Amin Akhnoukh
Zhu receives trendsettter recognition
Dr. Zhen Zhu, associate professor in the Department of Engineering, received a Trendsetter Award from ECU’s Office of Research, Economic Development and Engagement.
Zhu has established an extensive research collaboration network with ECU faculty, faculty at institutions external to ECU and industry, according to the announcement. His success in securing funding and establishing numerous collaborative research projects provides research support for faculty as well as undergraduate and graduate students.
His ongoing efforts have resulted in external funding on a wide range of topics, including aircraft navigation, remote sensing, UAV-based research and educational applications, biomedical signal, and image processing.
Other areas of research interest include real-time imaging systems for medical applications and satellite navigation embedded systems.
Since 2014, the total grant amount for projects in which he served as the principal investigator is approximately $2.3 million and $2.8 million as a co-principal investigator.
New bioreactors give boost to pharma career opportunities
The job market in the pharmaceutical industry is growing — just like the cells in the new bioreactors at the Eastern Region Pharma Center.
Engineering students put the new Sartorius bioreactors to good use with a 24-hour lab in the Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building, collecting data on cell growth once each hour.
Dr. Loren Limberis, associate professor of engineering and the director of the pharma center, said the new reactors allow students to see their work in action. The bioreactors monitor factors that can influence cell growth such as temperature, pH levels, dissolved oxygen and even the rate at which the liquid is stirred. The bioreactors — funded as part of the Golden LEAF Foundation’s $1.9 million grant to support the center — can automatically adjust those factors for optimum cell growth.
“These new units allow for the students to acquire data from the bioreactors, store it and analyze it,” Limberis said. “They also allow students to log into the bioreactor control unit and monitor the conditions.”
The bioreactors offer a glimpse into the work available in the pharma industry.
“It gives them the hands-on experience of starting from a colony on a petri dish and propagating the growth of the cells to the point where they can put it in a bioreactor in which they can control all of the growth parameters as they learn how to optimize productivity out of the cells,” Limberis said. “These units allow them to understand how a bench scale bioreactor works, how to program it and how to monitor it, which helps them analyze the data at the end of the run.”
He said the lab provides students in engineering — and others who can take the course as a technical elective — the fundamentals of biomanufacturing.
“They get the hands-on experience of upstream and downstream biomanufacturing of an enzyme,” Limberis said. “... Pharma industry demand for engineers is high, and if they have this hands-on laboratory background experience of the entire biomanufacturing process, they are more competitive in the job market.”
Dr. Zhen Zhu
Garrett Morphy, a senior engineering major, takes samples from a new Sartorius bioreactor during a lab in the Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building. (Photo by Ken Buday)
Ryan aims to make ECU engineering a known gem
Amid the calculus and complex mathematical equations lies a simple formula for success for East Carolina University engineering students: Get a degree, change your life and transform the region.
Dr. Teresa Ryan
“The lifechanging power of an ECU engineering degree for people born and raised in the East and who stay in the East when applied at scale transforms the East,” said Dr. Teresa Ryan, the new chair of the Department of Engineering.
That’s because engineering jobs can pay more than $100,000 annually, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and having grown up in rural Georgia, Ryan knows the impact that amount of money can have in eastern North Carolina.
“The effect of these degrees on the individuals is nothing short of amazing,” Ryan said. “When these people who are from the area stay here, that’s the transformative power of the program. That’s our magic.”
Ryan brings a passion for students and research to her new role. She came to ECU to teach in 2013 for one reason.
“This department values quality undergraduate education,” she said.
The Bachelor of Science in engineering at ECU offers six concentrations — biomedical, biochemical, electrical, environmental, industrial and
systems, and mechanical engineering. Ryan said that is the program’s strength.
“A general engineering program is still fairly uncommon, but it’s perfect for our region because it gives the students a broad overview of the different disciplines,” Ryan said. “They all get the same core that has a little bit of mechanical, a little bit of systems and a little bit of electrical, so they are the chameleons of the engineering disciplines. And so, the smaller firms throughout the East, they can hire one person who can be the general engineer. They don’t need to hire a mechanical and an electrical and a systems person.”
The program started 20 years ago with industry input, Ryan said, with the goal to create a pipeline of workers to support industry needs.
“The program exists because of industry support, and the concentrations that we have have evolved by being responsive to the industry needs in our region,” she said. “We are the engine of regional transformation.”
As the new chair, Ryan plans to continue the program’s emphasis on quality undergraduate education while being responsive to industry needs.
She highlights the program’s hands-on approach to educating students, the student experience through research, and the quality faculty — attributes she said sets the program apart from others.
“We’ve been here 20 years, and still we’re the hidden gem,” Ryan said. “I don’t want us to be the hidden gem. I want us to be the known gem.”
A celebration of Engineers Week
The Department of Engineering celebrated its students and faculty during National Engineers Week Feb. 16-22.
The Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society chapter hosted a spaghetti bridge building competition. The ECU chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers student chapter hosted a Game Night. Word games, chess, a Connect 4 tournament and a marshmallow catapult building contest were all part of the fun. Engineering Advisory Board members hosted a Speed Networking event in which students shared career goals and received advice from industry representatives.
A student reacts as he watches a marshmallow fly across the room at a catapult building competition during an Engineers Week Game Night event. (Photo by Ken Buday)
Students work on building their spaghetti bridge as part of an Engineers Week competition. (Photo by Ken Buday)
BSIT program receives national acclaim
The Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology (BSIT) program has received accolades in a national report highlighting successes in community college transfer programs.
The Transfer Playbook, produced by the Aspen Institute and Community College Research Center, touts the BSIT program for its success in helping community college transfer students obtain bachelor’s degrees at a rate 10 percentage points higher than the national average. The report credits advising staff, online classes and an emphasis on transfer student experiences as some of the reasons behind the program’s success, calling it a model for other four-year institutions to follow.
The program is designed for those who have obtained Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degrees in technology fields and who may already be in the workforce. It allows those students to obtain bachelor’s degrees through online or on-campus courses in one of seven concentrations, degrees that
can lead to career advancement, higher salaries and a better quality of life, while supporting the region’s economy.
“The BSIT is proving to be a game changer — not only for students, but also for local industries and economic development at both the state and regional levels,” said Dr. David Batts, associate professor and BSIT program coordinator. “Employers are gaining access to a pipeline of graduates equipped with the practical skills and technical knowledge necessary to make a meaningful impact within their organizations.”
The BSIT program began in 2003 and has grown from roughly 150 students to about 700.
Batts credits a team — from admissions staff and advisors to the faculty — as well as courses developed with industry input for the program’s success and its inclusion in the national report.
“ECU has eliminated the admission barriers that once hindered AAS graduates from progressing,” he
Photos by Ken Buday
said. “By streamlining the admissions process, the BSIT program has become more accessible, creating a seamless and supportive pathway for students to advance their careers.”
Batts said ECU faculty understand the needs of adult learners, who have full access to university resources such as the library and support systems such as tutoring.
“We’ve set a high bar for ourselves, and it’s both humbling and inspiring to be recognized as an institution that’s doing it right,” he said. “But if I’m being honest, the greatest pride doesn’t come from accolades. It comes from our students. Talking with them at graduation, hearing their stories, that’s where the real impact lives — stories like the single mother who returned to school to build a better future for her family or the father who completed his degree to set an example for his children. In the end, it’s always about the students — who they become, what they overcome and how we’ve helped them along the way. That’s the legacy we’re most proud of.”
IDIS supports ECU’s Purple Pantry
Students in the distribution and logistics program worked in the Student Service Learning Lab in March, sorting and processing food donated through the Food Lion Feeds program. The food in the lab goes to ECU’s Purple Pantry, which helps students facing food insecurity issues on campus. The lab gives students real-world experience in managing and operating a warehouse.
ICT students test skills with capstone projects
For senior K.J. Davis, learning the skills he needs to work in information and cybersecurity technology is just the beginning.
Putting those skills to use in a real work environment while still in college is just as important.
Davis was among more than 50 ECU information and cybersecurity technology (ICT) seniors who highlighted their work during capstone presentations.
“It helped me implement what I learned in the classroom and actually see it in the real world. That helped me a lot,” said Davis, who wants to work as a network engineer. “Some things that I had some gray areas about in the past, by actively working with it, I learned a lot more from hands-on working in the actual field.”
The students presented their projects in front of faculty, staff and ICT industry advisory board members.
“This is my favorite time of the year,” Dr. Tijjani (TJ) Mohammed, chair of the Department of Technology Systems, said in his opening remarks. “I get to see all of these great projects you’ve been working on.”
Dr. Charles Lesko, ICT professor and senior capstone course coordinator,
said the capstone projects are designed to help students test their skills and experience project management, something they’ll do during their careers.
“The idea is to give them some real-world context in that area,” he said. “It’s two phases: One is all the work, the tasks, the effort in doing the project. The other is project management where you have to manage the tasks. … That’s what this is really all about, giving them a chance to take the concept of IT and put it into the context of a team project.”
Davis said that teamwork was valuable for him as he worked with Caleb Frett, Thomas Crutchfield, Casey Adarkwah, David Bailey and Zachary Braxton to provide networking and cybersecurity at the Building Hope Community Life Center, a youth support organization in Greenville.
“We all had to work with our strengths and work with our weaknesses, but in the end, it taught us how to come together and finish the project in an efficient way,” he said.
Davis said the team worked to solve Wi-Fi dead zones in the building through the installation of network
devices.
The team then ensured the network was safe from external attacks as well as for internal users.
“We made sure social media couldn’t be downloaded on their iPads,” he said. “We also changed some settings on their servers to make sure the kids couldn’t access certain websites.”
He said he enjoyed working on a project he knows made a difference.
“I just wanted to help out the best way we could,” Davis said. “I feel like it’s better that we helped a small nonprofit because if we would not have done it, probably no one would have done it. ... They don’t have a designated IT person, so we helped them out a lot.”
The 10 projects presented during the event supported nonprofit organizations, small businesses and government. Lesko said the work is an example of ECU’s mission of outreach and service to the region.
“One thing that we’re very proud of is that we look in the region to see what we can do,” he said. “We’re out there giving back. We’re showing the region what we can do. It gives me a lot of great pride the kind of work we’re doing in the community.”
K.J. Davis speaks during a capstone project presentation for senior information and cybersecurity students. (Photo by Ken Buday)
The Big Picture
An engineering student reacts as she correctly matches a word during a Game Night event as part of National Engineers Week. The National Society of Black Engineers ECU student chapter put on the event in the Science and Technology Building. Students enjoyed refreshments and participated in a catapult building competition as well as a Connect 4 tournament while having some fun outside of class. (Photo by Ken Buday)