Talent Competency

Talent. Research Experiences for Undergraduates. Senior Capstone Projects. Design Competitions. Honors Programs. National Science Foundation. Internships at a national laboratory.

Scholars choosing any one of the following options toward the Talent competency must substantiate and contextualize how the course’s subject matter, approach, and/or learning objectives advanced their understanding of their chosen Grand Challenge.

University Honors Program

Honors seminars, Honors sections of courses, Honors contracts, and Honors capstone projects are designed to ignite discovery, inquiry, creativity, and critical thinking across disciplines. Scholars must have already been accepted by either the University Honors Program or the University Scholars Program to register for Honors seminars and sections of courses.

Benjamin Franklin Scholars Program

E 497, the Franklin Capstone, is a group project looking at technology with significant humanistic and social scientific implications. Only the Ben Franklin Scholars can register for this course and double-count it toward satisfying requirements in the Grand Challenges Scholars Program.

Engineering Entrepreneurs Program

Entrepreneurship at NC State offers substitute courses for senior capstone projects.

Undergraduate Research (400 Level) Course

Faculty-supervised individual or group research related to a specific interest or academic discipline. A contract between the student and faculty member is required.

Independent Study or Research (400 Level) Course

According to university policy, an independent study or independent research is a course requiring students to participate in individualized, independent, directed, or guided studies under the supervision of an expert or qualified representative of the field or discipline that cannot be otherwise classified as Internship, Field Experience, Cooperative Education, Practicum, Recital, Performance, or Ensemble. A contract between the student and faculty member is required.

Professional Licensure: Preparing for the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam

Along with graduating with your ABET-accredited engineering or computer science degree, the first step toward professional licensure is passing the FE exam. E 490 is an exam prep course for seniors in engineering majors planning to take the FE exam. The licensure process is how engineers demonstrate their technical competence, ethical decision-making, and acceptance of professional responsibility for the public’s safety and welfare.

Graduate (500+ Level) Courses

Advanced coursework at the 500-level taken as electives or as substitutes for lower-level courses can fulfill the Talent competency as long as the subject matter and learning objectives are germane and applicable to the Grand Challenge of the Scholar’s choice. Examples include graduate-level courses substituted for lower-level courses while completing an Accelerated Bachelors-Masters (ABM) program.