Last updated: Oct. 23, 2009
U.S. News & World Report's “America's Best Colleges 2010” (fall 2009)
The School of Architecture + Designs’s undergraduate architecture program was recognized as one of America’s World-Class Schools of Architecture with highest distinction, tied with Harvard, Yale, and Columbia universities. The multidimensional ranking by DesignIntelligence, the only national college survey focused exclusively on design, was based on five criteria: current rankings by professional practices; historic 10-year rankings by professional practices; rankings by academic department deans and chairs; overall campus environment and student evaluations; and program accreditation.
Virginia Tech ranks 15th nationally among public colleges and universities that offer a first-class educational experience at a bargain price, according to Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine.
U.S. News & World Report's “America's Best Graduate Schools 2010” (spring 2009)
DesignIntelligence ranked Tech’s graduate architecture program sixth in the nation. It also ranked the graduate interior design program sixth.
With more than 23,500 undergraduate students, about 7,300 graduate students, and more than 3,100 faculty members and researchers, Virginia Tech offers more degree programs and awards more diplomas than any other university in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Virginia Tech's fully computerized library contains more than 2.3 million volumes, an array of specialized collections, and numerous electronic databases.
Virginia Tech consistently ranks among the top 15 schools in the nation in number of patents received.
Virginia Tech is one of only three public universities in the United States to support both a military and a non-military student lifestyle (the others are Texas A&M and North Georgia College and State University). Membership in the corps of cadets was mandatory for all able-bodied males until 1964, when it became optional. The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets preceded the federal service academies by first admitting women in 1973.
All campus facilities, including residence halls, are connected by fiber-optic cable, providing voice, data, and video communications and high-speed, direct Internet connection. In 2004-05, Tech began offering wireless Internet connections in more than 75 different buildings, including academic buildings, student centers, dining facilities, and even the south end zone of Lane Stadium. Tech is also the visionary leader of the internationally recognized Blacksburg Electronic Village project, instituted in the early 1990s, that connected the town and campus to the world.
The Center for Digital Government named Blacksburg the sixth most technologically advanced town in the nation among urban areas with a population of 30,000 to 74,999.
In January 2009, the Peace Corps ranked Virginia Tech in its top 25 list of "Top Peace Corps Volunteer Producing Colleges and Universities." Since its inception in 1961, 535 Virginia Tech alumni have served as Peace Corps volunteers.
In fiscal year 2008, Virginia Tech reported total research and development expenditures of more than $373.3 million. Its national ranking is 46th.
Each year, the university receives significant external support from an ever-expanding base of sponsors for research, instruction, Extension, and outreach projects. In fiscal year 2008, the university received 1,949 awards to conduct research.
Tech has more than 100 centers and institutes (www.research.vt.edu/resmag/crossing), including university and college-based interdisciplinary programs and laboratories, for addressing complex, multifaceted research problems. Three university-level institutes have been created to focus and facilitate advances in scholarship: the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, the Fralin Life Science Institute, and the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment.
In addition, the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) was established at Virginia Tech in 2000 as a Commonwealth of Virginia shared resource. VBI has undertaken research centered on understanding the "disease triangle" of host-pathogen-environment interactions. VBI researchers are working to cure many human, crop, and animal diseases; create high-yield, insect- and disease-resistant crops; and provide bioinformatics information and tools to support further discoveries. In collaboration with researchers in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine and the Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science, VBI was awarded a five-year, $10.3 million contract by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to establish a national Bioinformatics Resource Center.
Areas of achievement and ongoing attention include high-performance computing; advanced materials; wireless telecommunication; transportation; housing; human and animal health, cognition, development, and behavior; the environment; and energy, including power electronics, biofuels, fuel cells, and solar-powered building structures. In the social sciences, Virginia Tech is focused on social and individual transformation, including cultural expression and literature; digital and interactive art; interactions between ideas, technology, and people; and global issues. For more information on areas of research, see www.research.vt.edu/research/index.html.
Virginia Tech offers two interdisciplinary graduate degree programs: the macromolecular science and engineering graduate degree program and the genetics, bioinformatics, and computational biology Ph.D. program.
Long before Virginia Tech burst into the limelight in 2003 for building the third-fastest supercomputer in the world in a matter of months, the university had a history of computational science and engineering research. More than 50 researchers have been responsible for approximately $23 million in external funding. The university upgraded the Virginia Tech Advanced Research Computing (VTARC) facility, enhancing visualization capacity and moving toward petascale computing. Tech is establishing leadership in computational life sciences, computational nanoscience and engineering, and multidisciplinary design optimization. Connecting the VTARC via the National LambdaRail (a national fiber-optic backbone with more than 15,000 miles of fiber footprint linking research universities and laboratories with supercomputing, storage, and visualization capabilities) will establish Virginia Tech as a leader in high-performance grid computing.
Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties Inc. (VTIP) was established as a nonprofit corporation in 1985 to support the research mission of the university by protecting and licensing intellectual properties that result from research performed by Virginia Tech faculty and staff members and students. During calendar year 2007, 33 patents were awarded to VTIP and 17 options or licenses were signed.
Virginia Tech's rank for agricultural and natural resources research spending jumped four places to No. 6 in 2007 in the National Science Foundation's nationwide ranking of programs. Tech expended more than $91 million in 2007, an increase of nearly $15 million over 2006.
In a comprehensive survey of 118 turf programs across the U.S., TurfNet magazine ranked the Virginia Tech turf program third.
A biological systems engineer in the college has shown that it is possible to use the crude glycerol by-product from the biodiesel industry as a carbon source to feed microalgae that produce omega-3 fatty acids. After growing the algae in the crude glycerol, researchers can use it as animal feed. This mimics a process in nature in which fish, the most common source of omega-3 fatty acids for humans, eat the algae and then retain the healthful compounds in their bodies.
Biométhodes, a French biotechnology company in Evry, has signed an exclusive worldwide option-to-license agreement with Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties Inc. for multiple technologies for converting biomass to bioethanol and biohydrogen. An envisioned integrated biorefinery pilot plant in Virginia will advance the process of converting biomass into ethanol and valuable co-products.
A Virginia Tech study confirmed that the North American Free Trade Agreement, commonly known as NAFTA, has increased U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico and Canada, though most of this increase occurred a decade after its ratification.
Researchers from the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute; the Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science; and their colleagues have identified a key function of a large family of virulence proteins that play an important role in the production of infectious disease by the plant pathogen Phytophthora sojae. P. sojae causes severe damage to soybean crops that results in $1 to $2 million in losses annually for commercial farmers in the United States and much more worldwide. The researchers discovered that this family of proteins is capable of suppressing an important process in plant immunity called programmed cell death.
The Virginia Quality-Assured Beef Cattle program has improved health, management, and marketing practices for feeder cattle resulting in more than 78,000 head being marketed and $2.35 million in value-added income over the past 10 years.
Over the past decade, 27 wheat, 11 soybean, and four barley cultivars have been released from Virginia Tech crop breeding programs. Approximately 1 million acres of winter barley and wheat grown during the 2006-07 crop year were planted using certified seed varieties developed at Virginia Tech.
As part of the college’s infectious disease research program, an entomologist has discovered (in a collaborative effort) that mosquitoes – genetically modified to be disease-free – can have all disease-free offspring if bred to disease-carriers. In addition to areas affected by yellow and dengue fever viruses, this discovery is promising for developing countries, where mosquito-borne diseases cause 5 million deaths each year.
A plant pathologist has developed small, self-controlled planes to detect airborne pathogens above agricultural fields in an approach that combines the latest engineering technology with cutting-edge plant pathology.
Scientists in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering are working to solve two of the most important challenges associated with the cost-efficient production of ethanol from lignocellulose, such as corn stover and switchgrass: the breakdown of cell-wall components and the generation of high-yield hydrogen from plant sugars.
The college and its partners were awarded more than $3.3 million to help improve the quality of local waterways and the Chesapeake Bay.
Researchers in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise have been leading research projects to understand the problem of childhood obesity, especially among youth in Virginia, and also are leading efforts to do something about it. Faculty members are working with Virginia Action for Healthy Kids, a coalition of health advocates committed to improving the health of Virginia's youth by ensuring that healthy snacks and foods are provided in vending machines, school stores, and other venues and to promote quality physical activity during and after school.
The Virginia High Pressure Processing Laboratory in the Department of Food Science and Technology has the largest university-based high-hydrostatic pressure unit available for research in the Americas.
William Beal, professor of animal and poultry sciences, received the university’s Sporn Award for excellence in teaching introductory subjects. The student-nominated award recognizes Beal’s enthusiasm for the subject matter as well as his care and concern for students.
The North American branch of the International Life Sciences Institute selected Brenda Davy, professor of human nutrition, foods, and exercise, for the 2008 ILSI Future Leader Award. The award is given to promising nutrition and food scientists.
Kevin Davy, associate professor of human nutrition, foods, and exercise and director of the Human Integrative Physiological Laboratory, was elected Fellow of the American Heart Association and the Council of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism. Davy is also a Fellow of the American Heart Association and the Council for High Blood Pressure Research.
Frank Gwazdauskas, professor of dairy science, was named a Fellow of the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA). The award recognizes a member of the ADSA for 20 years or more of distinguished service to the dairy industry.
Celia Hayhoe, Extension specialist and assistant professor of apparel, housing, and resource management, received the 2007 Distinguished Fellow Award from the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education. The award recognizes her efforts in nationwide programming and curriculum development in financial management.
Katharine Knowlton, associate professor of dairy science, received the 2008 Cargill Animal Nutrition Young Scientist Award. The award recognizes young dairy production scientists who demonstrate outstanding research in dairy cattle production areas during the first 10 years of their professional career.
Mark A. McCann, director of Virginia Cooperative Extension and associate dean of the college, was elected to the National 4-H Council Board of Trustees.
Robert F. McDuffie, associate professor of horticulture, received the 2008 William E. Wine Achievement Award for excellence in teaching.
Carol Papillon, instructor of human nutrition, foods, and exercise, received an Outstanding Dietetics Educator Award from the American Dietetic Association.
Dixie Watts Reaves, associate professor of agricultural and applied economics, and Jerry Williams, associate professor of horticulture, earned 2008 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Teaching Fellow Awards.
Susan Sumner, professor and head of the Department of Food Science and Technology, was among 20 Fellows honored by the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges for their accomplishments in completing the Food Systems Leadership Institute leadership development program and for contributions to their disciplines.
Boris Vinatzer, assistant professor of plant pathology, physiology, and weed science, is investigating the pathogen that causes bacterial speck disease in tomatoes and developing a new undergraduate course in microbial genomics using a $1 million, five-year Faculty Early Career Development Award, which is the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious award for creative junior faculty.
Percival Zhang, assistant professor of biological systems engineering, received the Air Force Young Investigator Award, funded through the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. He also recieved a 2008 DuPont Young Professor Award.
Philip Chong, a double major in agricultural and applied economics and political science, was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in South Korea. Chong will teach conversational English to middle and high school students.
David Tatum was among the three Virginia Tech recipients of the 2008 Goldwater Scholarship, a prestigious award to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering.
The Virginia Tech 2008 Soil Judging Team finished second in both team judging and overall score at the 2008 National Intercollegiate Soil Judging Championships. In four of the past five years, Virginia Tech has been one of the top five schools in the team-judging contest, and in each of the past five years, it has finished among the top five teams in overall score, more than any other school during that time.
Virginia Tech's 2008 Dairy Challenge Team won gold at the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge. The innovative two-day competition enables students to apply theory and experience to evaluate a commercial dairy operation while working as a four-person team.
The 2007 Virginia Tech Dairy Judging Team won the Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest at the North American Livestock Exposition in Louisville, Ky., and also ranked third at the Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis.
The undergraduate architecture program in the School of Architecture + Design, is ranked first in North America by DesignIntelligence, the only national college ranking survey focused exclusively on design. The graduate program in architecture ranks fifth and first among public universities. The architecture class of 2008 and the rankings information were featured in the November issue of Architect magazine. The school is one of the largest of its kind, with more than 1,100 students and nearly 100 faculty and staff.
The Department of Building Construction and the Myers-Lawson School of Construction celebrated the grand opening of Bishop-Favrao Hall, their new home. The structural elements that are usually hidden behind walls and ceiling panels in other buildings are exposed and labeled in Bishop-Favrao Hall to enhance learning. Thus, students can clearly see the structures in use they are studying.
The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors approved a School of Visual Arts (SOVA) in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies. The mission of the new school is to offer an expansive undergraduate and graduate education in fine art, art history, and visual and digital design using both traditional graphic methods and new creative design technologies.
In a 2007 nationwide survey, faculty members of the college who teach doctoral-level classes were ranked the fifth-most-productive faculty of architecture, design, and planning. They also ranked first in productivity among the doctoral programs at Virginia Tech. The survey looked at 375 universities and the productivity of 164,843 faculty members nationwide.
Established in 1988, the Community Design Assistance Center celebrated its 20th anniversary and received the 2008 Alumni Award for Outreach Excellence for team achievement. Those involved with the center have worked with almost 200 communities. This work has leveraged millions of dollars in funding; improved the lives of thousands of people; and fostered economic, social, environmental, and health-related improvements in communities.
Based on data from the nation’s construction schools, webbloger Michael Nelson ranked the building construction program first among the top 50 programs nationwide.
The college’s interior design and landscape architecture programs are ranked in the top 10 in North America by the Design and Futures Council and the journal DesignIntelligence. The undergraduate program in interior design ranks fifth and the graduate program ranks seventh. The landscape architecture graduate program ranks 10th.
The Design and Futures Council and DesignIntelligence named Ron Kemnitzer, an industrial design professor, and Gene Egger, the Nancy and Patrick Lathrop Professor of Architecture and the college’s director of special programs, two of 28 educators most admired and respected nationwide in the fields of interior design, interior architecture, architecture, design, architectural engineering, industrial design, and landscape architecture.
Yonsenia White, associate professor of art in the School of Visual Arts, won one of three Diggs Teaching Scholar Awards.
Patrick Miller, associate dean of outreach and graduate studies, was named a Fellow of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, recognizing his lifetime accomplishments in teaching, scholarship/creative activity, and service.
Carol Burch-Brown, professor of studio arts, created an original film for DePaul Family Services, a private, nonprofit organization that has adoption of special-needs children as part of its mission. Burch-Brown’s film, Waiting Children, is about adopting special-needs children who are in the foster care system.
Earthea Nance, assistant professor of urban affairs and planning, served as the chief of infrastructure and planning of recovery for New Orleans. Nance developed and contributed to strategic planning for recovery of infrastructure services and planning functions, oversaw the activities of the city’s infrastructure and planning departments, and provided technical recommendations.
Carrie Makarewicz, a doctoral student in environmental design and planning, was named an Eno Fellow by the Eno Transportation Foundation.
Heather Switzer, planning, governance, and globalization doctoral student in the government and international affairs program, was named an American Association of University Women American Dissertation Fellow.
Benjamin Tew, an industrial design graduate student, won the grand prize at the 2007 Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association International Show. Tew, from Baltimore, Md., received $2,500 for his product, NIPA, or Nested Interactive Play Area.
Marisa Brown, a third-year architecture student, won the Virginia Society American Institute of Architects Prize. The annual competition invites students from architecture schools in Virginia to participate in a weekend-long design contest. Participants receive a challenge at 5 p.m. Friday and submit completed designs by 9 a.m. the following Monday. Brown received a certificate and $1,500.
Dani Gershon’s design was one of 24 selected from 1,400 entries in the first stage of the Koizumi International Lighting Design Competition: In Search of the Way of Light, Maximum Light with Minimum Material. She was the only student from a university in the United States selected.
Four industrial design students created a swift-water victim-transport harness. In swift-water rescue, neck and back injuries are among the most difficult for rescuers. Victims must be immobilized to reduce the possibility of further injury, especially in cases where the water is rough. The fourth-year students developed a rescue harness that provides proper spine immobilization, self-righting to face-up flotation, and protection from water hazards.
Laura Valentine, a fourth-year interior design student from Nashville, Tenn., won the first place gold prize in the Odegard Award for Excellence in Rug Design competition.
"America's Best Colleges 2009" survey released by U.S. News & World Report in August 2008 ranks the College of Engineering's undergraduate program 14th in the nation among all accredited engineering schools that offer doctorates, and eighth among those at public universities.
The magazine's "America's Best Graduate Schools 2009" survey ranked the college's graduate program 28th among the nation's engineering schools and 17th among engineering schools at public universities. The survey ranked three of Virginia Tech's graduate engineering programs – civil, environmental, and industrial – among the top 10 in their fields.
In its most recent survey (FY 2006) of total engineering research expenditures at universities and colleges, the National Science Foundation ranked the College of Engineering 11th, with a total of $127.35 million spent on research. This marks a steady increase since the FY 2003 survey, when the college was ranked 13th with total expenditures of $96.5 million.
The latest national survey released by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) ranks the college fourth in the number of full-time teaching faculty, third for the number of tenured/tenure track women faculty, 10th for the number of African-American faculty, sixth for the number of Asian faculty, and fifth for the number of Hispanic faculty. The data was based on a survey of 323 engineering schools.
In the most recent survey (2007) by the Engineering Workforce Commission of the American Association of Engineering Societies Inc., the college ranked ninth nationally for the total number of degrees awarded, sixth for the number of undergraduate degrees awarded, 22nd for the number of master's degrees, and 14th for the number of Ph.D.s.
In September 2007, the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) dedicated its first building, the Nanoscale Characterization and Fabrication Lab, located in Virginia Tech's Corporate Research Center. The 32,000-square-foot facility is on par with the best nanotechnology labs in the world. In summer 2008, ICTAS-I opened in the College of Engineering corridor.
The college won a 2007 Laureate Medal at Computerworld magazine's Honors Program for the development of its tablet PC-based learning environment. In 2006, the school became the first public college of engineering to require all of its incoming freshmen to purchase tablet PCs.
The College of Engineering will receive three endowed chairs, $2 million in support from the state of Virginia for laboratory renovations, some graduate fellowships, and resources for specific international program efforts as a result of plans by British-based Rolls-Royce to build a new jet engine manufacturing plant in Prince George County.
The Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics celebrated its 100th anniversary during 2008. As part of its celebration, the department hosted a two-day mechanics research conference at The Inn at Virginia Tech & Skelton Conference Center. The department is ranked eighth in its research area by U.S. News & World Report.
In an extraordinary year, six college faculty members received a 2008 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program Award to support their research. They are Masoud Agah, Leyla Nazhandali, and Jung-Min Park of electrical and computer engineering; Ali R. Butt of computer science; Leigh McCue of aerospace and ocean engineering; and Mark Paul of mechanical engineering. The five-year grants are worth at least $400,000 each. McCue also received a 2008 Young Investigator Program (YIP) Award from the Office of Naval Research to support her development of tools that will help improve the stability and safety of ocean-going vessels.
Two Virginia Tech engineers, Kirk Cameron of computer science and Amy Pruden of civil and environmental engineering, were among 82 of the nation's brightest young engineers selected to take part in the National Academy of Engineering's 14th annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium in 2008..
Stefan Duma, Mike Ellis, and Michael Roan of mechanical engineering were appointed John R. Jones Faculty Fellows by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors in November 2007. John R. Jones, a mechanical engineering alumnus, provided an endowment for the faculty fellow program in 2006 to acknowledge and reward junior and mid-career faculty who have shown exceptional merit in research, teaching, and/or service. Jones retired as an executive of American Electric Power after a 36-year career.
Marc Edwards, the Charles P. Lunsford Professor of civil and environmental engineering, was named a MacArthur Fellow for 2007 by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Edwards will receive a five-year grant – often called the "genius award" – of $500,000 from the foundation to use in any way he chooses. Edwards was one of 24 new MacArthur Fellows selected from among hundreds of nominees for their creativity, originality, and potential to make important contributions in the future. Featured by Time magazine in 2004 as one of the nation's leading scientific innovators, Edwards has used his expertise in drinking water quality and corrosion to help identify and solve some critical problems, including the leaching of lead into home water supplies in Washington, D.C.
Earlier in 2007, Edwards was among 12 college and university faculty selected from a statewide pool of 95 nominees to receive the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award, the commonwealth's highest honor for faculty. The award program is administered by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and funded by a grant from the Dominion Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Dominion.
Guo-Quan Lu, who holds joint appointments in electrical and computer engineering and materials science and engineering, received an R&D 100 Award for 2007. The awards, presented by R&D Magazine, recognize the 100 most technologically significant new products of the year. Lu and his graduate students invented a process that enables bonding and interconnection of semiconductor chips for improved performance, reliability, and high-temperature capability.
Arun Phadke, a University Distinguished Professor emeritus, and James Thorp, the department head and Kelly Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, received the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering for their contributions to the electric power industry. Phadke and Thorp have collaborated on a number of improvements to the industry's ability to prevent and lessen the severity of power grid blackouts. The Franklin Institute has presented honors for achievements in science, engineering and technology for 182 years. Past Franklin Medal recipients include Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Orville Wright, Marie and Pierre Curie, and Jane Goodall.
Naren Ramakrishnan of computer science was named by Computerworld magazine as one of the world's "Top 40 under 40" technology innovators. Ramakrishnan was honored for his development of a new data-mining algorithm, called "storytelling," that relates information that, at first sight, appears dissimilar. This technology has implications for the next generation of search engines, literature-based discovery, and link analysis in counterterrorism.
Roe-Hoan Yoon of mining and minerals engineering has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the highest honor that can be accorded a member of the profession. Yoon is known internationally for his significant contributions to the technology and science of mineral processing. In 1980, Yoon and his colleagues at Tech developed a technology to use small air bubbles, known as microbubbles, to produce clean coal from coal fines discarded to waste ponds. Yoon directs the Center for Advanced Separation Technologies (CAST), a consortium of seven universities founded in 2001 under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy. In 2007, Yoon received the Robert H. Richards Award in Minerals Processing, one of the highest honors awarded by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.
Y.H. Percival Zhang of biological systems engineering received a 2007 Air Force Young Investigator Award. Zhang is developing a cost-effective pretreatment process for the production of ethanol, which usually is distilled from corn kernels, as an alternative fuel. Zhang has expanded this research into a method of turning the sugar extracted from cellulose into hydrogen.
VictorTango, a team of Virginia Tech engineering and geography students, won third place and a $500,000 cash prize in the DARPA Urban Challenge. During the final event of the competition, held on a former U.S. Air Force base in Victorville, Calif., the Virginia Tech autonomous vehicle, "Odin," completed the 60-mile course in under six hours. Odin crossed the finish line just behind the entry from Carnegie Mellon University, which won first place and $2 million, and the vehicle from Stanford University, which came in second for a $1 million prize. The vehicles were required to operate entirely autonomously, without human intervention, as they obeyed California traffic laws and performed such maneuvers as merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, and avoiding obstacles.
Students from the Center for Wireless Telecommunications (CWT) and the Mobile & Portable Radio Research Group (MPRG) took top honors during the inaugural Smart Radio Challenge, held during the 2007 Software Defined Radio Forum conference in Denver, Colo. Virginia Tech was the only school with two teams among the final 10 in the international competition. Teams came from schools in France, Malaysia, and Sweden, as well as the United States. The CWT team won the competition's grand prize by developing a software-defined radio capable of finding available spectrum within a pre-defined band, rendezvousing with an intended receiver, and transmitting data with a pre-determined quality of service in urban conditions. The MPRG team won the Smart Radio Challenge award for best design.
In 2007 the Virginia Tech Autonomous Vehicle Team swept the international Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition for the fourth year in a row, winning the Grand Challenge as well as placing first in the autonomous and navigation challenges.
Katherine Cennamo, associate professor in the School of Education is the primary investigator on an $802,410 project on “Collaborative Research: Investigating and Refining the Studio Experience as a Method for Teaching Human Computer Interaction,” which is funded by the National Science Foundation.
Working collaboratively, Carol J. Burger (interdisciplinary studies), Elizabeth G. Creamer (educational leadership and policy studies), and Peggy S. Meszaros (human development) published Reconfiguring the Firewall, a comprehensive volume that addresses the global challenge of recruiting girls and women into majors and careers in information technology. Backed with more than $882,000 in funding from the National Science Foundation, the project, “Women in Information Technology: Pivotal Transitions from School to Careers,” evaluated the impact of family, peers, school, and community on girls’ perceptions of IT careers.
The Department of History and School of Education continued collaborating with Montgomery County Public Schools on the second Teaching American History grant. These Department of Education grants support teachers responsible for American history content across the grade levels. In addition to workshops and summer sessions, this grant also supports 10 history “master teachers” from different schools and grade levels who receive more intensive training and then mentor other teachers.
The Department of Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management was one of three departments on the Virginia Tech campus to receive a 2007-08 Exemplary Department Award. The theme of this year’s nomination was excellence in student support and advising.
For the second year in a row, Virginia Tech Army ROTC cadets had the best overall performance of all senior military colleges in the nation. The cadets have improved their rankings over the past three years, culminating in 2007-08 with first place rankings in 16 of 20 evaluated areas.
Ananda Abeysekara, associate professor of religious studies, published The Politics of Postsecular Religion: Mourning Secular Futures, part of the Columbia University Press series, Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture.
M. David Alexander, professor of educational leadership and policy studies, received the Education Law Association’s 2007 M.A. McGhehey Award, presented in recognition of outstanding service in education law and to the association.
Barbara Allen, director of the Science and Technology in Society program at the Northern Virginia Center, received a Fulbright award for spring 2009 to work at the University of Trento’s Observa-Science in Society policy institute in Vicenza, Italy. Allen will investigate environmental health science, public use of science, industrial regulation, and policy change in the chlorine-based chemical industry in Porto Marghera.
Mary Alice Barksdale, associate professor of teaching and learning, was awarded a Fulbright to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, for spring 2009. Her proposal, the Write to Read project, is a collaborative research project in a primary school.
The Southern Sociological Society (SSS) honored Professor Emeritus Clifford D. Bryant with both its Martin L. Levin Distinguished Service Award and its highest recognition, inclusion on the SSS Roll of Honor, a distinction earned by only 16 individuals in the society’s 73-year history. Bryant, the 2002 recipient of the Contributions to Teaching Award, is the society’s only member to have garnered all three of its most prestigious awards.
Theodore Fuller, professor of sociology, hosted a Thailand delegation of 41, including 32 university presidents, for presentations addressing the different types of local government in the U.S., economic development at the local level, and the preparation of professionals to work in economic development.
University Distinguished Professor of English Nikki Giovanni received an NAACP Image Award in the literature category (poetry) for Acolytes: Poems, her fourth win in the award’s 39-year history. Giovanni also received the 2007 Carl Sandburg Literary Award from the Chicago Public Library Foundation and the Chicago Public Library.
“Quick Feet, Soft Hands,” a half-hour film by communication Assistant Professor Paul Harrill, was one of 160 features and shorts selected from more than 1,600 entries to premiere at the Nashville Film Festival.
Sociology Associate Professor James Hawdon and sociology Professor John Ryan received NSF funding for their proposal to partner with colleagues in Finland to study community effects of mass violence.
Celia Hayhoe, assistant professor of apparel, housing, and resource management, received the 2007 Distinguished Fellow Award from the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education.
Bob Hicok, past recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for poetry. Hicok’s most recent collection, This Clumsy Living, received the 2008 Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry from the Library of Congress.
Educational leadership and policy studies Associate Professor Joan B. Hirt received the 2008 National Association of Student Personnel Administrators’ Robert H. Shaffer Award for Academic Excellence as a Graduate Faculty Member.
Sociology Professor Michael Hughes is listed among Thomson Scientific’s “Highly Cited Researchers” on www.ISIHighlyCited.com, which honors researchers whose collected publications have received the highest number of citations in the past two decades.
Shannon Jarrott, associate professor of human development, was named a Fellow in the Gerontological Society of America.
History Associate Professor Kathleen W. Jones was named a National Humanities Center Fellow for her work, Dying Young: A History of Youth Suicide, 1900 to the Present.
Human development Professor Jay Mancini was named a Fellow of the World Demographic Association.
Horticulture Professor Jerzy Nowak was named the founding director of the university’s new Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention.
Michael Saffle, professor of interdisciplinary studies, was recognized as the Au Young King Fong University Fellow at Hong Kong Baptist University in spring 2008.
English Assistant Professor Steven Salaita received the 2007 Myers Outstanding Book Award for Anti-Arab Racism in the USA.
English Professor Paul Sorrentino earned a Guggenheim Fellowship for his work on the life of Stephen Crane. After unearthing lost Crane papers in Hawaii, Sorrentino received the Stephen Crane Literary Award in 1984 for his extensive research.
Carolyn Barnes, the 2008 Outstanding Graduating Senior in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, is an inspirational success story. Barnes earned a 4.0 GPA in political science and garnered numerous awards along the way, but her outstanding accomplishments are even more noteworthy in light of the fact that she identified herself as “an independent student whose family is homeless.” Barnes, however, would rather not dwell on that circumstance. “Although my socioeconomic status differs greatly from the rest of the student body,” noted Barnes, “my circumstances have motivated me to present the perspectives of the poor to this campus through various service activities.” Barnes is now pursuing a Ph.D in public policy on a five-year fellowship at the University of Michigan.
Mariah Clarke, who graduated in May with a focus in the apparel design program, received the prestigious International Textile and Apparel Association’s (ITAA) Paris American Academy Scholarship for her gown design titled “Victorian Rose.”
Phillip Chong, a University Honors Program student who graduated summa cum laude with a double major in political science and agricultural and applied economics, was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in South Korea.
Gary Riggins and David Grant were Virginia Tech’s only recipients of an ACC scholarship. Both rising seniors, Riggins is majoring in civil engineering and French, while Grant is a political science and religious studies major in the University Honors program. Grant, who has studied in Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, and Jerusalem, began blogging for the WashingtonPost.com's page Faithbook in the fall of 2007.
The National Science Foundation ranked the $91 million research program of the College of Natural Resources and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences sixth in the nation.
Programs in the College of Natural Resources have consistently ranked among the top of their kind in the nation. The college’s wildlife program has been ranked first by its peers, and the fisheries program has been ranked second. In a study of rankings of the research impact of North American forestry programs published in the Journal of Forestry, Virginia Tech’s program ranked second on the perceptions-based composite score and third on the citations- and publications-based index.
The “Hokies Thank the World” event brought together thousands of students, faculty, staff, and friends on the Virginia Tech Drillfield to spell out a message of thanks to the world in recognition of the global outpouring of support and love for the Tech community following the events of April 16, 2007. The message of thanks was recorded by ground, aerial, and satellite imagery (www.HokiesThankTheWorld.org). Peter Sforza, faculty member in the Department of Geography and coordinator of VirginiaView, envisioned and coordinated the event.
Virginia Tech and three other prominent research university forestry programs (North Carolina State University, Oregon State University, and Purdue University) received a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center grant to establish the Center for Advanced Forestry Systems. The center will emphasize environmentally sound, scientifically based management approaches that will permit large areas of forest to be preserved for such uses as wilderness preservation, wildlife habitat, and recreation.
Assistant Professor Scott Renneckar and his research team used nanotechnology to develop an organic polymer coating that can be applied to wood products to delay or prevent decomposition.
The college, in a three-year collaboration with Yale University, Principia College, and the World Wildlife Fund, opened the Memorial Center of Excellence at the Institute of Forestry in Nepal to honor 24 of the country’s leading natural resource conservationists who were killed in a 2006 helicopter crash.
From Jamestown to Blacksburg: The Path to the College of Natural Resources, a booklet that records highlights of the college and the importance of forestry to the commonwealth since the arrival of the settlers at Jamestown, was produced with the coordination of the history department. The booklet received the Award of Excellence from Printing Industries of Virginia.
The Department of Wood Science and Forest Products initiated a partnership with K-12 schools, the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center, and Danville Community College to create the future wood products workforce at all levels by establishing educational pathways that start in K-12 and lead to the wood science program at Virginia Tech.
Stephen Prisley, associate professor of forest inventory and geographical information systems, received a certificate commemorating his involvement with the International Panel on Climate Change, which along with former Vice President Al Gore, received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Eric Hallerman, professor and head of the fisheries and wildlife sciences department, received the national Excellence in Education Award from the American Fisheries Society.
Geography professor Jim Campbell received the Virginia Tech Undergraduate Alumni Advising Award for his excellence as an undergraduate advisor.
Brian Murphy, fisheries and wildlife sciences professor and director of the Conservation Management Institute, received the Edward S. Diggs Teaching Scholar Award, which honors outstanding teachers.
Geography Professor Joseph Scarpaci received the 2008 Virginia Social Science Association Scholar Award, was named to the editorial board of Southeastern Geographer magazine, and accepted the position of regional editor for the Library of Congress’s Handbook of Latin America Studies.
Jeffrey Marion, adjunct forestry professor, received the highest honor given by the National Boy Scouts Conservation Committee, the William T. Hornaday Gold Medal, for distinguished service to natural resource conservation and environmental improvement.
Fisheries and wildlife sciences professors Richard Neves, Michael Vaughan, and Paul Angermeier received the Outstanding Science Award for Furthering the Mission of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cooperative Research Units Program.
Forestry Professor Jeffrey Kirwan walked across the state of Virginia to cap his research efforts for an upcoming book on the Remarkable Trees of Virginia project.
Master’s candidate Brian Gerber received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to study carnivores in Madagascar. He spent six months leading his own research project, using trail cameras to study habitat preferences and to estimate populations of four carnivore species.
Master’s candidate Sarah Orlofske received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to study the energetic costs of parasite infection on larval amphibians.
The Wood Enterprise Institute (WEI), a student-run concept-to-market business in its second year, created and marketed an engraved, wooden bookshelf featuring the WEI or Virginia Tech logos. The student-run business works in partnership with the forest products industry, creating a learning environment that allows students to engage in real-world experiences and to develop their entrepreneurial skills by running a wood products manufacturing business.
Beth Mutchler won first place in the Virginia Outdoor Writers Association third annual undergraduate writing competition, which encourages young adults to cultivate their creative talents in writing by describing how outdoor experiences have influenced their lives.
Christopher Fields-Johnson was awarded a Virginia Academy of Science Undergraduate Research Grant to study species-site relationships in pre-European settlement forests in Giles County by mapping witness trees from the first land surveys that were conducted from 1785 to 1817.
The Pamplin College of Business undergraduate program is ranked 43rd overall among the nation's undergraduate business programs and 24th among public institutions. Pamplin's overall ranking places it in the top 10 percent of the 400-plus U.S. undergraduate programs accredited by AACSB International (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International).
The college developed an innovative program to help alleviate the critical national shortage of business-school faculty. It is among four U.S. business schools that launched in the summer of 2008 the first post-doctoral “bridge-to-business” programs approved by AACSB International. The programs are designed to prepare individuals with doctorates in non-business, but related, disciplines for new careers as business faculty members.
Five Pamplin majors — accounting and information systems, business information technology, finance, marketing, and management — are routinely in the top 10 majors sought by recruiters visiting campus.
The Forest Industries Center, a collaboration between the Pamplin College and the College of Natural Resources, is one of only 26 Sloan Foundation industry centers in the country.
Richard E. Sorensen, dean of the Pamplin College of Business, is past chair of the AACSB. He is chair of the AACSB’s nominating and accreditation coordinating committees and board champion for its doctoral education task force. Sorensen is also chair of the board and chair of the nominating committee of the board of directors of the Global Foundation for Management Education.
A research team from the Pamplin College and College of Natural Resources received a $266,000 grant from the National Park Service and Blue Ridge Heritage Inc. to help develop a sustainable tourism strategy for the Rocky Knob area of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Patrick Fan and Greg Jenkins, associate professors of accounting and information systems, are developing new fraud detection software with a $196,000 grant from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Their preliminary findings suggest that textual analysis — used extensively in the social sciences to scrutinize written and oral communication — can be used to identify language patterns in management communications that are inconsistent with either the company’s financial performance or with the communications of other companies in the same industry. Such inconsistencies may indicate fraud.
The college is one of two schools selected to partner with the audit and consulting firm Deloitte to develop much-needed college accounting curricula on the International Financial Reporting Standards.
Marketing professor Jim Littlefield has been awarded the university’s 2007 Alumni Award for Excellence in International Education.
Management Associate Professor Mary Connerley is a five-time recipient of the annual grant from the nationwide GM Sullivan Fellowship Program, aimed at promoting principles of corporate social responsibility developed by the late Rev. Leon Sullivan.
Management Professor Michael Badawy taught the first undergraduate courses ever at Virginia Tech's Northern Virginia Center. The center has previously offered only graduate programs.
Pamplin College of Business students manage about $10 million of the university's endowment through separate stock and bond investment portfolios of $5 million each. The stock investing project, called SEED (Student-managed Endowment for Educational Development), is believed to be the nation's largest student-run portfolio that is managed entirely as an extracurricular activity, not as part of a course. The fixed-income portfolio, a new project, is managed by a group called BASIS (Bond and Securities Investing by Students). Virginia Tech is the only Virginia school and one of only five universities in the country with a student-run, fixed-income securities fund.
In 2007, the Department of Geosciences celebrated the 100th anniversary of the graduation of its first student. The department has been consistently ranked among the best geosciences programs in the nation for the past 20 years.
Several researchers in the College of Science are the first to head up projects in a new drug discovery partnership between Virginia Tech and Georgetown University Medical Center. The venture was established to form a joint program for drug discovery and development. Initial research projects include the effectiveness of natural products against malaria, the use of fatty acids to fight microorganisms, and the use of enzymes to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
The college has a unique joint degree program with the University of Richmond Law School that enables students in as little as six years to obtain a bachelor of science and a law degree with an emphasis in intellectual property law.
The Ph.D. program in clinical psychology in the Department of Psychology is a member of the Academy of Psychological Clinical Science Programs, comprised of the top 40 research-oriented programs in the United States and Canada.
The College of Science has a Nobel-prize-winning alumnus: Robert C. Richardson (B.S. physics ’58; M.S. physics ’60).
The university’s Crystallography Lab houses the only specialized PX Scanner for commercial use in the United States. The scanner, which is used in pharmaceutical research to scan proteins quickly, draws dozens of prominent academic and industry researchers to the Blacksburg campus every year.
The College of Science has a faculty member who is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences (John Cairns, biology emeritus) and another faculty member who is a member of the equally prestigious National Academy of Engineering (James McGrath, chemistry).
The college has six faculty members who are University Distinguished Professors (Robert J. Bodnar, geosciences; Michael F. Hochella Jr., geosciences; David G.I. Kingston, chemistry; James McGrath, chemistry; Thomas H. Ollendick, psychology; and John Tyson, biological sciences).
The college has three faculty members who are Alumni Distinguished Professors (Ezra “Bud” Brown, mathematics; Art Buikema, biological sciences; and E. Scott Geller, psychology).
The college has two faculty members who have received the internationally acclaimed Alexander von Humboldt Research Award (Michael F. Hochella Jr., geosciences; and Royce Zia, physics).
Four faculty members from the college have been named Virginia Outstanding Scientists since the year 2000: Neal Castagnoli, chemistry, 2000; David Kinston, chemistry, 2002; John Tyson, biological sciences, 2004; and Michael Hochella Jr., geosciences, 2005.
One faculty member has received the Lifetime Achievement in Science Award (Duncan Porter, biological sciences, 2006).
Three faculty members (Robert Bodnar, Michael Hochella, and Patricia Dove) in the Department of Geosciences are Fellows in the American Geophysical Union. Bodnar has also received a Silver Medal of the Society of Economic Geologists.
The college has two Fellows in the American Association for the Advancement of Science: Robert J. Bodnar and Michael F. Hochella Jr.
David G.I. Kingston, University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, has two plants named in his honor. Taxus kingstonii is a yew tree that grows in India, China, and Taiwan. Cordia kingstoniana is a South American tree.
Beate Schmittmann, professor of physics, is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Royce Zia, professor of physics, is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society.
The Department of Psychology has six faculty members who are Fellows of the American Psychological Association (Martha Ann Bell, Jack W. Finney, E. Scott Geller, Russell T. Jones, Thomas H. Ollendick, and Richard Winett).
Christine George, a 2008 biological sciences graduate, was named to the 2008 All-USA Academic First Team.
Two of the three winners of the 2008 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship majored in disciplines in the College of Science: Kevin Finelli, a double major in mathematics and physics, and David Tatum, a double major in chemistry and biochemistry.
Rebecca Sinnot, a biochemistry major and psychology minor, was awarded the prestigious Goldwater scholarship in 2007.
Brian Skinner (physics, ’07) was awarded the Goldwater Scholarship in 2006 and was a finalist for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Skinner was also awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
Alison Smith (biological sciences and chemistry) was named Virginia Tech Woman of the Year in 2007.
Virginia Tech’s only two Rhodes Scholars majored in disciplines within the College of Science: William Lewis (physics ’63) and Mark Embree (mathematics, computer science ’96).
VMRCVM’s Blacksburg-based Veterinary Teaching Hospital provides high-quality primary care and referral services for about 8,000 companion animals and 32,000 agricultural animals per year. The Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg treats about 3,000 patients a year, including almost 900 emergency cases requiring immediate life-saving care.
The Veterinary Teaching Hospital recently installed a $500,000 digital radiography system that enables veterinary radiologists to produce extremely high-quality, easily manipulated digital radiographs that can be transmitted over wireless networks.
The Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center was the second equine hospital in the nation to install a standing MRI unit for horses, a machine that enables clinicians to create extremely detailed images of a patient’s leg while minimally stressing the animal.
Establishing international exchange programs is a major priority for the VMRCVM. Over the past several years, the college has established international collaborative programs with the University of Austral in Valdivia, Chile; with Tamil Nadu University in Chennai, India; with India’s CCS Haryana Agricultural University; and with Chonbuk National University in Jeonju, Korea.
The VMRCVM’s veterinary medical informatics program is a national leader in an emerging scientific discipline that uses modern information technology to improve the management of medical data. Units include the Veterinary Medical Informatics Laboratories, the Drug Information Laboratory, and the Veterinary Terminology Services Laboratory.
VMRCVM’s Laboratory for Neuorotoxicity Studies is one of the nation’s leading organophosphate research centers. Organophosphates, a class of compounds commonly used in fertilizers and pesticides, may have long-term neurotoxic effects, and stress may increase these effects. Laboratory Directors Dr. Marion Ehrich and Bernard Jortner have received major funding from the United States Army to examine the behavioral, biochemical, and pathological effects of these agents.
The college’s Center for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Diseases is a major university research center where 12 full-time faculty, 14 research technicians, and almost 30 graduate students use modern molecular biotechnology and immunological techniques to probe the infectious, immunological, and biochemical aspects of the diseases that affect people and animals.
Dr. X.J. Meng, a medical doctor and virologist studying the molecular mechanism of viral replication and pathogenesis in the Center for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Diseases, has developed a new vaccine for PCV-2 virus, a major threat to the global swine industry. Meng has also been honored as one of the most frequently cited scientists working in the fields of microbiology and clinical medicine by academic publishing giant Thomson Scientific. Meng’s laboratory, which is regarded as one of the top three hepatitis E laboratories in the world, has recently been awarded about $3 million in new National Institutes of Health grants.
Four VMRCVM faculty members have won national teacher of the year honors from the national Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association in both the biomedical sciences and clinical teaching categories over the past four years. Dr. John Rossmeisl, an assistant professor in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, earned honors in 2008. Former VMRCVM honorees for the national award include Dr. Scott Pleasant, associate professor, Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences (DLACS), 2005; and Drs. Marion Ehrich, professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, and Kevin Pelzer, associate professor, DLACS, 2006.
One major factor affecting cancerous tumor growth is the ability of these tumors to stimulate the development of new blood vessels and their growth that provide the nutrients for continuous growth. To understand these oncogenic processes better, Dr. William Huckle is studying the control of growth factor receptors using mouse models of solid tumor growth and metastasis, and estrogen-induced uterine hyperplasia in mice, a model of normal angiogenesis in the adult.
Human asthma is a disease of growing importance in the United States and throughout the world. Horses develop a disease that is very similar to asthma called recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), or heaves. Dr. Virginia Buechner-Maxwell studies RAO-affected horses to develop a better understanding of airway disease in both horses and humans.
Brucellosis is an infectious disease that causes spontaneous abortion in animals and undulant fever in humans. Working in the VMRCVM’s Center for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Disease, VMRCVM Dean Gerhardt Schurig and fellow researchers developed a new, highly effective recombinant brucellosis vaccine, RB-51. The vaccine has quickly established itself as the global standard of protection. Because brucellosis is believed to be a biological warfare threat, the U.S. Army has contracted with the research team to develop a human vaccine for the disorder as well.
Working in laboratories located at VMRCVM’s College Park, Md., campus, Dr. Daniel Perez is considered one of the nation’s leading experts in avian influenza H5N1, which many fear may eventually cause a global pandemic of human disease. Perez is principal investigator on a $5 million USDA grant focused on AI H5N1, the largest USDA grant ever awarded to study a single disease.
Funded by the United States Army, Dr. Thomas Inzana is working on the development of a vaccine and rapid, field-compatible diagnostic test for tularemia, a highly pathogenic infectious disease considered a Category A bioterrorism agent by the United States government.
Dr. John Rossmeisl, a board certified veterinary neurologist on the VMRCVM faculty, is working with the Wake Forest Translational Science Institute to study a deadly form of brain cancer called gliomas, which affects dogs, cats, and humans. By establishing the molecular similarity of canine and human tumors, the researchers hope to perfect methods for improving the delivery of chemo-therapeutic agents when treating both people and animals.
Dr. Elamkumaran Subbiah, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, has received almost $800,000 in grants from the U.S. Army and the National Institutes of Health to use reverse genetics to alter avian Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) into an agent that can fight cancer in humans.
The Office of International Affairs, which is responsible for multinational outreach has seen its international collaborative programs increase 50 percent from 2004-05 to 2005-06. The office uses $34 million in funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a record one-day funding award from USAID, to oversee innovative projects in 37 developing countries.
The office oversees the university’s Center for European Studies and Architecture in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland, and its programs in Punta Cana, the Dominican Republic. Establishing regional centers in South America, Africa, and China is a current priority.
The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) in Danville is Virginia Tech’s showcase project for bringing the benefits of university knowledge to an economically depressed area in order to develop a new economic base. From fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2006, the IALR attracted more than $58 million in funding. Such organizations as the Southern Growth Policies Board, the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration, and the U.S. Economic Development Administration have honored IALR or made it a finalist for major national awards.
In September 2006, IALR received a Governor's Technology Award in the "Innovation in Higher Education" category that recognizes the innovative use of technology to support the unique missions of Virginia's colleges and universities.
The Virginia Tech Office of Economic Development (OED) is working with several communities around Virginia to model distributed research programs that will echo the IALR plan. The programs will be based at regional centers and will be geared to the needs of each region.
OED helped counties in far Southwest Virginia obtain funding for an innovative entrepreneurship program for middle school students with the long-term goal of encouraging youth to stay in their home counties and start businesses to stimulate economic development and stem the youth brain-drain.
The Service-Learning Center forged a partnership with Refugee and Immigration Services to open an English language learning center at Maple Grove Apartments in Roanoke, which was home to 82 Somali Bantu refugees. The Pilot Street Partnership, which officially opened its doors in February 2006, provides adult ESL classes, after-school homework help, a teen ESL class, and child care during the adult classes.
The Virginia Tech Outreach Program to Schools is an umbrella partnership with Montgomery County schools in which students serve as mentors, technology consultants, resident experts for gifted students, and special subject tutors.
Virginia Tech’s Upward Bound/Talent Search programs have an astounding success rate. For Upward Bound, more than 94 percent of graduating seniors enroll in college. One alumnus won a national award for distinguished achievement by a former Upward Bound enrollee. Another won a regional award. Upward Bound annually serves 90-115 students from 23 high schools. Talent Search annually serves 750-800 students from 31 middle and high schools.
Outreach delivers more than 450 programs each year to 30,000-50,000 people. Many of these programs are conferences, short courses, workshops, and seminars that take place at the university’s first-class facilities: The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center and The Inn at Virginia Tech & Skelton Conference Center.
Dining Services was ranked first in the country for student satisfaction, according to the annual Association of College and University Housing Officers International benchmarking survey.
Career Services launched the new Hokies4Hire online career database for Virginia Tech students and alumni. Hokies4Hire allows students, alumni, and employer organizations to register and find employment or employees.
The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets cultivated more than 700 leadership studies students. The Rice Center for Leader Development awarded the minor in leadership studies to 160 graduates during the 2007-08 academic year.
Virginia Tech is one of three public institutions in the U.S. to offer full-time military and civilian student lifestyles (the others are Texas A&M. and North Georgia College and State University).
The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Highty-Tighties regimental band is the oldest continuously performing musical organization at the university.
The Dean of Students Office instituted the first-ever university-sponsored Hokie Camp in 2008. The camp, a non-mandatory welcoming experience for first-year students, was held at the W.E. Skelton 4-H Educational Conference Center at Smith Mountain Lake. It teaches new students university traditions, respect for diversity, and the community-oriented spirit that thrives throughout the campus of Virginia Tech and Town of Blacksburg.
Multicultural Programs and Services implemented more than 180 cultural programs involving collaborations with more than 60 campus and community partners, reaching an estimated 7,000 attendees.
Recreational Sports hosted more than 500,000 visits to McComas and War Memorial halls (gyms) by almost 21,000 different members of the university community.
Leadership Tech, the emerging and engaging leaders programs, saw an increase in the number of community service hours performed by students. The combined total of service hours for both programs reached 2,760.
The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) is the largest university-level research center at Virginia Tech. It features seven transportation safety research groups: the Center for Automotive Safety Research, Center for Truck and Bus Safety, Center for Sustainable Mobility, Center for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure, Center for Technology Development, Transportation Fellows Group, and the National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence (STSCE).
The institute employs 225 research faculty, staff, and students working on more than 90 projects and is the largest supporter of both undergraduate and graduate students at the university.
VTTI conducted an evaluation of the hours-of-service (HOS) regulations for long-haul truck drivers. The results of this study were used by FMSCA in their re-evaluation and eventual re-issue of the HOS regulations
Researchers recently conducted the 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study, a crash causation study specifically examining driver inattention. It was the first study of its kind conducted in a naturalistic setting that documented actual driving behavior. The study resulted in approximately 43,000 hours of data collected and over 2 million miles driven.
Jon Antin, leader of the Light Vehicle and Safety Group, was elected as an officer in the Surface Transportation Technical Group of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Myra Blanco, research scientist and leader of the Safety and Human Factors Engineering Group, was inducted into the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Hall of Fame.
Gerardo Flintsch, director of the Center for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure, is vice-chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers Committee on Highway Pavements.
Virginia Tech University Libraries has more than 2.2 million volumes and is a member of the prestigious Association of Research Libraries, which has 123 members in the U.S. and Canada. Membership is by invitation only.
The library provides access to more than 50,000 online books and nearly 20,000 online journals, magazines, and newspapers. It also provides access to more than 200 online databases, including LexisNexis, InfoTrac, and Web of Science, and full-text e-journal packages from such noted publishers as Elsevier, Blackwell Synergy, Springer, and Wiley.
Librarians teach more than 600 library instruction sessions each year to classes throughout the university. Library staff members answer nearly 25,000 reference and research questions from the Virginia Tech community each year in person, on the phone, and online through a chat reference service.
The Digital Library and Archives has digitized significant amounts of local material to enable online access to these resources. Nearly 9,000 Virginia Tech theses and dissertations since 1997 are online, as are 40,000 images from archival collections and most issues of The Bugle, Tech’s yearbook.
The Special Collections department has built extensive archival research collections in such areas as the American Civil War, Appalachia, and aerospace exploration, and it also maintains the University Archive, the historical record of Virginia Tech.
Harry Kriz, directory of interlibrary loan, received the American Library Association’s Virginia Boucher-OCLC Distinguished Interlibrary Loan (ILL) award in 2005. The award recognizes a librarian for outstanding professional achievement, leadership, and contributions to ILL.