Who doesn’t love a good game of hide-and-seek?

For NC State University Day of Giving 2026, the College of Engineering added a new challenge: find a life-size cutout of former College of Engineering dean and current NC State provost, Jim Pfaendtner. The prize was $5,000 to support the research of the winners’ chosen professor.

Clues were sprinkled on the College’s Instagram stories leading up to the start of the challenge, pointing enterprising students in the direction of the prize. While dozens of students were on the hunt, two from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) came out victorious: Neil Sood, who graduated this spring with his B.S. in electrical engineering (EE) and computer engineering (CE), and Madeline Wall, a fourth-year student double majoring in EE and CE.

“We learned about the hide-and-seek challenge through the @ncstateengr Instagram account,” said Wall. “The account posted a short video on stories the morning of the event. We are both pretty curious people and enjoy fun challenges, especially ones that give back to our school, so we decided to give it a try. Neil is my boyfriend, and we were hanging out together after class when we saw it and started deciphering the riddle.”

After figuring out the clues, Sood and Wall were the first to find Pfaendtner’s double on the fifth floor of Hunt Library.

“I had a ton of fun,” said Sood, who is currently completing his M.S. through NC State’s Accelerated Bachelor’s/Master’s program. “It felt kind of like Mission Impossible; when we had an idea of the hiding spot, we were rushing to get to Hunt before anyone else.”

Sood and Wall decided to put the $5,000 prize toward ECE Professor Eric Rotenberg’s research on computer architecture and high-performance processors.

“We chose Dr. Rotenberg because we took his Microprocessor Architecture (ECE 463/563) class in fall 2025, and we really enjoyed everything about it,” said Wall. “He was amazing to learn from in lectures and through projects, and he is very passionate about what he teaches. Dr. Rotenberg would bring up his research in class, and he always sounded excited about it. Even though we haven’t been personally involved with his research, we hope that the prize donation will help him with his work!”

“I hadn’t had much experience with Day of Giving in the past, but through this challenge, I’ve seen the positive impact it can have,” said Sood. “I’m looking forward to being more involved with Day of Giving going forward. I’d also love to see this challenge happen next year, so we can retain our titles as the hide-and-seek champions.”

It’s safe to say, the dean’s hide-and-seek challenge was a success! Students, put your detective caps on for Day of Giving 2027, because this game is just getting started.