As a Land-grant institution created by the Morrill Act of 1862, NC State University is a people's university. Land-Grant universities have a unique mission to serve the educational needs of people in their home states. To expand further this mission Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act in 1914, which essentially created the Cooperative Extension Service, under the U. S. Department of Agriculture. This act is to provide useful and practical information on subjects relating to agriculture, home economics, and rural energy, and to encourage their application.
     Cooperative agricultural extension work according to the Smith-Lever Act shall consist of the development of practical applications of research knowledge and giving instruction and practical demonstrations of existing or improved practices or technologies in agriculture, uses of solar energy with respect to agriculture, home economics, and rural energy, to persons of the state not necessarily attending the land-grant colleges within the state, Cooperative Extension is to impart information on subjects through demonstrations and publication.
   In the Biological and Agricultural Engineering program at NC State University our Extension Program truly believes in  "Bring Engineering to Life"