NC State Math And Statistics > Before

“>” is the mathematical symbol for “greater than.” And it is easy to see that both NC State’s mathematics and statistics departments and a locally-based company named SAS are greater now than they were before.

SAS was born out of an innovative project that began in NC State’s Department of Statistics more than 30 years ago. Now, the world’s leading business intelligence software company has seen to it that future Wolfpack statisticians and mathematicians have a fitting place to make their own groundbreaking discoveries.

The new mathematics building project was originally part of the state’s 2000 Higher Education Bond Referendum, which called for the renovation of Harrelson Hall. Once it was determined that constructing a new facility for the departments of Mathematics and Statistics was a better option, SAS — specifically company co-founders and longtime NC State supporters James Goodnight and John Sall — stepped forward with a significant gift that made the project possible.

The result is a cutting-edge teaching and research facility that will be a showpiece not just for the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences — but  also for the entire university. As Chancellor James Oblinger noted at the groundbreaking ceremony for the building, “There are few areas that have the breadth of impact of the quantitative sciences. Nearly every discipline on this campus will benefit from the kind of work that will be conducted in this building.”