Faculty and Staff Share Their Hopes for the New Year

NC State faculty and staff made 2017 a year to remember. In the new year, they’ll work to make the university an even better place to work, learn and serve. Here’s what some of our faculty and staff had to say about their plans for 2018.

Dana K. Gulling

Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Programs, School of Architecture, College of Design

I am anticipating the publication of my new book, Manufacturing Architecture: An Architect’s Guide of Custom Processes, Materials, and Applications, with Laurence King Publishing. Manufacturing Architecture is the first reference guide for architects to customizing repetitive manufacturing processes on a per-project basis.

Megan Halbohm

Technology and Participant Outreach Extension Assistant, Department of Agriculture and Human Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

As a former Cooperative Extension employee, I am eager to take on a new role within NC State. As of January 2, I now serve as the new Technology and Participant Outreach Extension Assistant for the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). After serving as a Program Assistant in Orange County for nearly two years, I am looking forward to the opportunity to help strengthen and grow EFNEP in order to continue providing nutrition education to citizens of North Carolina.

Douglas C. Hopkins

Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering

The Laboratory for Packaging Research in Electronic Energy Systems (PREES) is a new makerspace for developing power electronic circuits. It is unique since it directly uses new wide bandgap power semiconductor chips, similar to what the PowerAmerica Institute is developing, and circuits used in similar areas addressed by the FREEDM Systems Center, such as power supplies that charge batteries, modules that directly drive the electric motors, or converters for photovoltaic sources on the electric grid. One of the great 2017 accomplishments was establishing the “Power Pack” student club on campus, and for 2018 we will finalize a learning environment for undergraduates to become PREES technicians. The students will learn the equipment and processes, and support graduates who need circuits for their research.

Roland Kays

Research Associate Professor, Department of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, College of Natural Resources

I’ll be headed to Ecuador to film a documentary on the olinguito, a new species of mammal we discovered in 2013.

John Kessel

Professor, Department of English, College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Aside from working with some thesis students this semester, I have a novel to be published by Simon & Schuster on February 13. It’s titled Pride and Prometheus and is a mashup of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (published two hundred years ago this March) and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. In it, Mary Bennet, one of the unmarried sisters from the central family of Austen’s novel meets and gets involved with Victor Frankenstein and then his monstrous Creature.

Pride and Prometheus is my second novel with Simon & Schuster; last April they published my big science fiction novel dealing with gender issues in the future, The Moon and the Other, which was named one of the top five science fiction novels of 2017 by the Washington Post.

Mark Megalos

Extension Professor, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, College of Natural Resources

I am gearing up for the biennial meeting of Extension Natural Resource Professionals, where we’ll unveil a national onboarding/mentoring effort targeted at making the NEXTGEN professionals all they can be.

Anna L. Patton

Director of Impact Leadership Village, Living and Learning Initiatives, Division of Academic and Student Affairs

In 2018, my partner and I are excited to celebrate our marriage on May 13. The date is special one because it will also be my maternal grandparents’ 63rd wedding anniversary — both of whom worked at NC State. Dr. Robert Williams, my grandfather, was an Associate Dean in the College of Education, and Catherine Williams, my grandmother, was a nurse in the Infirmary in Clarke Hall. We are excited to honor our families on this day.

Taylor Sprague

Residence Director, Wolf Village Apartments, University Housing, Division of Academic and Student Affairs

Graduate Student, Higher Education Administration

This year, I am looking forward to graduating with my master’s degree in May and moving up to Boston with my partner. I will be looking for jobs in housing, student leadership, and diversity and social justice education in the New England area. It’s a year of unknown and exciting changes and I look forward for what is to come!

Katy Weilbrenner

Community Director, Wolf Ridge Apartments, University Housing, Division of Academic and Student Affairs

I have set 12 goals for myself for 2018, most of them personal! My top two fitness and health goals include becoming a certified Werq Dance Fitness Instructor and to complete my first half marathon in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in May! I also set a goal of reading 50 books this year and am challenging myself to plan a trip to somewhere I’ve never been before. I am currently thinking the Grand Canyon or Williamsburg, Virginia. I’m excited for all the things 2018 will have in store!