Students

In September, 20 UNC Charlotte students shook hands and began relationships with professionals from Bobcat Company, the world’s leading manufacturer of construction compact equipment. Each Niner received a $3,000 scholarship, becoming the first students to benefit from a new partnership between UNC Charlotte and Bobcat. 

On Friday, October 17, more than 100 high school students filled Duke Centennial Hall for Manufacturing Day 2025, an immersive, career exploration tour. This four-hour event directly connected students with hands-on learning, advanced technological demonstrations and networking possibilities that cultivate their interest in the field of manufacturing.

When fall 2024 arrived at UNC Charlotte, five senior Niner Engineers didn’t just get a textbook assignment — they were handed an actual production problem by Bosch Power Tools. The challenge: design a new system to reduce quality defects and ergonomic risks in a packaging process at the company’s Lincolnton, North Carolina, plant.

Highly skilled Niner Engineers are key to North Carolina’s continued rise in technology, energy and advanced manufacturing. Support for their education comes from Engineering North Carolina’s Future, an initiative backed by a $41.2 million investment in the University by the North Carolina General Assembly.

The investment, beginning in fall 2022 to the current fall semester, has yielded record-breaking student enrollment at the W.S. Lee College of Engineering and other significant advances.

Chideraa Ndubuisi ’25 MPH is driven to improve human health. Through research — and an unquenchable appetite for learning everything he can about medicine, public health and environmental systems — he is exploring, analyzing and drawing conclusions about the levels of microplastics and halogenated organics, particularly brominated flame retardants, in municipal wastewater treatment processes.

In the Blue Ridge Mountain town of Lansing, North Carolina, a 10-foot wall of water surged through downtown in September 2024 when the banks of Big Horse Creek overflowed, destroying nearly every business on the main street. Beyond town, hundreds of Ashe County residents were cut off from food, essential supplies and medical care as the bridges that connected their homes to county roads and highways washed away. Over the past year, the paths of three Niner engineers — a determined alumna, a dedicated researcher and a motivated student — have converged, each working alongside family and friends, colleagues and classmates, to help rebuild the bridges of Ashe County.

Charlotte’s first all-electric race car team is being celebrated with limited-edition gear. Charlotte-based lifestyle brand 704 Shop and UNC Charlotte’s 49ers Racing Electric Vehicle (EV) Team have collaborated in a first-ever partnership between the two groups: a custom-designed t-shirt that serves as a city-wide spotlight, shining local pride on student engineering. The racing-focused apparel is sold as a fundraiser for the student team, with $7.04 from each sale directly supporting the 49ers Racing EV program.

This summer, senior Myla Marve experienced firsthand the incredible amount of construction and engineering necessary to maintain and expand one of the world’s busiest airports. 

“As North Carolina’s urban research university, we are uniquely positioned to invest in our state’s future,” said Chancellor Sharon Gaber.

UNC Charlotte’s William States Lee College of Engineering enters the 2025-2026 academic year with record-breaking enrollment, an expanded leadership team, nearly 30 new faculty and staff and new academic opportunities including an aerospace concentration.