![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ece.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Pentair-Brian-Boothe-3-1566x883-1024x578.jpg\")
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NC State is a leading research enterprise, home to more than 40 centers and institutes<\/a> and offering 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs<\/a> across 65 departments. Locating on the university\u2019s Centennial Campus enables proximity to world-class student and faculty talent, and specialized equipment and resources.<\/p>\n Ten years ago, Pentair<\/a>\u2014a global technology-driven provider of industry-leading products, services and solutions that ensure water around the world is safe and plentiful\u2014was looking for a way to accelerate innovation by supplementing its mechanical engineering expertise.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s immediate need was to expand its autonomous underwater robot technology to the swimming pool market. Brian Boothe, engineering manager at Pentair and a two-time NC State alumnus, turned to the university\u2019s electrical and computer engineering departments to engage students in solving technology challenges. The immersive experiential learning opportunity allowed students to receive course credit for the project-based work and Pentair was able to tackle complex business problems.<\/p>\n Increased engagement<\/strong><\/p>\n The relationship quickly expanded to other areas of the company and across university disciplines. Pentair found partnering with students and faculty so valuable, it opened an innovation center on NC State\u2019s Centennial Campus in 2011 to further engagement.<\/p>\n Today, Pentair continues to work with several of NC State\u2019s engineering departments to develop new products. And the relationship has moved beyond just technical disciplines\u2014hiring student interns, sponsoring research and making charitable donations across the university.<\/p>\n Pentair has partnered with the College of Humanities and Social Sciences\u2019 psychology department to develop an app for its aquaculture business. Students worked on improving the user experience, enabling insight into new areas.<\/p>\n As a member of NC State\u2019s Nonwovens Institute<\/a>, part of the College of Textiles, Pentair utilizes specialized equipment and collaborates with faculty subject matter experts. They’re working with the institute to identify applied research opportunities from fundamental research to better understand how plastic fiber layers might capture micro particles. Pentair is also a member of the Center for Innovation Management Studies<\/a> in the Poole College of Management.<\/p>\n Broader impact<\/strong><\/p>\n Pentair has a large manufacturing operation in Sanford, N.C., and recently broke ground on an engineering and R&D facility in nearby Apex, focused on the company\u2019s water treatment products for swimming pools and other water filtration systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ten years ago, Pentair was looking to expand its autonomous underwater robot technology to the swimming pool market. The relationship quickly expanded to other areas of the company and across university disciplines. The company opened an innovation center on Centennial Campus in 2011 to further engagement, and the partnership with NC State continues to grow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":{"ncst_posts_meta_modified_date":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.ece.ncsu.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.ece.ncsu.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.ece.ncsu.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.ece.ncsu.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.ece.ncsu.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1592"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/my.ece.ncsu.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2687,"href":"https:\/\/my.ece.ncsu.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions\/2687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.ece.ncsu.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.ece.ncsu.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.ece.ncsu.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}