“My parents would be amazed when I’d come down stairs with one lego thing and two hours later, I’d come down, having put a motor on it…”
Sporting his own hand-made red duct tape tuxedo, Stephen Smith, sophomore in mechanical engineering and computer engineering, entered the spotlight in Stewart theater on Friday night with hopes of being crowned Mr. Engineer 2011. After solving a Rubik’s cube while riding a unicycle in circles and “winning over the girl” – despite his suspenders and nerdy swagger – he was not only awarded the crown to Mr. Engineer 2011, he also won the peoples’ choice award!
Smith, along with the other contestants, had to answer an onstage interview question as part of the pageant. His question was a personal opinion about the future of autonomous automobiles. He answered the question with such ease and expertise that you would think he himself had invented these robotic cars. Smith hopes to work in mechatronics (robots) or autonomous automobiles, which he sees as “the future of transportation.”
With his double major, Mr. Engineer 2011 hopes that he can find his way into this narrow field of engineering. “I believe mechanical engineers can still make ground breaking steps in motor vehicle safety. Car accidents cause way too many deaths in America and around the world and I think there is only a bit of engineering standing between fatal accidents and non fatal accidents,” Smith says.
“Engineers are considered geeky because we are, I’m sorry to say it and of course I think I’m geeky,” Smith said. He admits to spending his Christmas vacation troubleshooting his own linux box just “to get practice with some of the things you might see in a linux machine.” Just as an example to show his pure geeky-ness. Smith says that the most difficult classes he encounters here at N.C. State aren’t those in engineering, but outside disciplines such as a satire related honors seminar his freshman year which he says “was one of the hardest things I’ve ever completed in my education.”
When Smith isn’t hitting the books, solving his Rubik’s cube, making hot duct tape tuxedos or learning all he can about linux, he loves to race with the N.C. State cycling team. Smith races with the team all year long and has formed a deep passion for cycling with his teammates. You may spot Smith speeding across campus on one of his three bikes in order to distress, stay healthy and mostly just to have some fun.
This year’s Mr. Engineer’s idol is his mother. “When she started college, her mother was diagnosed with ALS and died within a year and half. Her junior year, my mother found out she had type one diabetes. She still completed her degree and has since been the mother of me and my brother, both at State doing Engineering and Architecture. I love her to death.”
Congratulations to N.C. State University’s adorably charming, talented, witty and sophisticated Mr. Engineer 2011!!