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.
For fiscal year 2008 Virginia Tech reported total research and development expenditures of more than $373.3 million to the National Science Foundation (NSF). The university ranked 46th in the country in research expenditures.
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 2009, the university received 2,384 awards to conduct research.
Three strategic institutes have been created to draw upon established strengths and build resources: the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, the Fralin Life Science Institute, and the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment.
The largest research institutes at the university are the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI).
Established in 2000 as a Commonwealth of Virginia shared resource, VBI addresses the challenges affecting human health, agricultural systems, and the environment through state-of-the-art genomic, proteomic, and bioinformatic tools. The research focus is infectious disease — specifically the “disease triangle” of host-pathogen-environment interactions. VBI bridges the gap between data, data analysis, and the delivery of products aimed at societal needs.
VTTI has more than 200 faculty members, staff, and students working on more than 120 projects that address safety, human factors, roads and bridges, advanced vehicle dynamics, transportation systems, operations, information applications, and technology deployment.
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. 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; interactions between ideas, technology, and people; and global issues.
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 2008, 20 U.S. patents and 8 foreign patents were awarded to VTIP and 30 license and option agreements were signed.
Virginia Tech’s 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.
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.
An international consortium of researchers, led by Virginia Tech, has begun an effort to sequence the genome of the domesticated turkey. The genetic blueprint of the domesticated turkey — Meleagris gallopavo — promises to transform avian experimental research and, ultimately, should help improve the quality of this commercially important source of food.
Virginia Cooperative Extension launched a well-owner education program to teach Virginians who get their drinking water from privately owned systems such as wells, springs, or cisterns more about maintaining their water systems.
Virginia Tech developed a new online master of science in life sciences with an option in health product risk management and accompanying 12-credit hour graduate certificate. The risk management program provides a thorough education in best practices and trends in risk management, enabling graduates to correctly assess the risks associated with processes and products. They will be able to devise strategies to mitigate those risks and help bring the safest, most innovative products to market.
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 million 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.
Virginia Cooperative Extension supports the Beef Quality Assurance Program and the Virginia Quality Assured Feeder Cattle Program, which together have increased the value of beef by more than $30 per animal and have generated more than $2.85 million in additional value for livestock producers in the commonwealth over the lifetimes of the programs.
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. This research has led to evidence that airborne micro-organisms employ novel biochemical processes for interacting with each other as a community of organisms in the atmosphere.
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.
Researchers in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise have been leading 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.
Paul Estabrooks, associate professor of human nutrition, foods and exercise, was elected into the Society of Behavioral Medicine College of Fellows. The rank of Fellow is bestowed on society members who have made substantial contributions to the field of behavioral medicine through research, teaching, professional practice, and/or public service.
L. Leon Geyer, professor of agricultural and applied economics, received the 2008 American Agricultural Law Association Distinguished Service Award. As the organization’s top tribute, the award honors Geyer’s commitment to agricultural law.
Robert “Bobby” Grisso, professor of biological systems engineering and farm equipment and safety specialist for Virginia Cooperative Extension, was elected into the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers’ 2009 Class of Fellows. The rank of Fellow is bestowed on less than 2 percent of the society’s members.
Frank C. Gwazdauskas, the David and Margaret Lincicome Professor in the Department of Dairy Science, received the 2008 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Fellow Award. The award recognizes a member of the ADSA for 20 years or more of distinguished service to the dairy industry.
James McKenna, professor and interim head of the Department of Crop Soil and Environmental Sciences, was honored with the 2009 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Distinguished Educator Award in recognition of his meritorious service to NACTA and to higher education through teaching, educational research, and administration.
Patrick Phipps, professor of plant pathology, physiology, and weed science, was elected into the American Phytopathological Society College of Fellows. The rank of Fellow is bestowed on individuals who have made distinguished contributions to the field of plant pathology or to the American Phytopathological Society in the areas of research, teaching, administration, professional or public service, and/or Extension and outreach.
Pablo Sobrado, assistant professor of biochemistry with the infectious disease research group at Virginia Tech, has received a Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award for his research on enzymes that are essential for infection in two important human pathogens. Oak Ridge Associated Universities presents the Powe award to faculty members who are in the first two years of their tenure track.
Kenneth E. Webb Jr., professor of animal and poultry sciences, received the 2008 American Society of Animal Sciences (ASAS) Fellow Award-Research Category. The fellowship award is given to members of ASAS who have provided exceptional service to animal science and the livestock industry for 25 years or more.
Mary Leigh Wolfe, professor of biological systems engineering, was elected into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows. The AIMBE College of Fellows represents the top 2 percent of medical and biological engineers.
Jennifer Lamb, a junior majoring in political science and agricultural and applied economics, was named a 2009 Truman Scholar, receiving a $30,000 scholarship for graduate study. The Truman Scholarship recognizes college juniors with exceptional leadership potential who are committed to careers in public service. Only the third Truman Scholar ever from Virginia Tech, Lamb was one of 60 students from 55 U.S. colleges and universities chosen this year.
Ashley D. Morgenstern, a junior majoring in human nutrition, foods, and exercise and biochemistry, was awarded the highly competitive Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for the 2009–10 academic year.
The 2008 Virginia Tech Dairy Judging Team took home the top prize at the 88th Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis. They placed first out of 22 teams from colleges and universities around the country. They also placed first among 17 teams at the All-American Dairy Judging Contest in Harrisburg, Pa., and second and third overall at the Big E Dairy Judging Contest in Springfield, Mass.
The Virginia Tech Horse Judging Team took top honors at the 2009 Middle Tennessee State All-Breeds Horse Judging Contest in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Fifteen teams from eight colleges and universities around the country participated in the event. The two teams representing Virginia Tech placed first and third.
The 13-member Virginia Tech Food Science and Technology Product Development Team created Banana Splitters as their entry in the Institute of Food Technologists Product Development Competition, sponsored by Mars Inc., and was one of six finalist teams to receive a travel grant to the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo in New Orleans.
The Virginia Tech Soil Judging Team won first place at the 2009 North American College Teachers of Agriculture National Contest in Wooster, Ohio.
The School of Architecture + Design’s undergraduate architecture program has been 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 ranking survey focused exclusively on design, was based on 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.
A FARO Laser Scanner, which allows the scanning of large-scale objects (building size) to produce digital, three-dimensional drawings, is housed in the Myers-Lawson School of Construction. Since its acquisition, the FARO Laser Scanner has been used to record the historically significant building Solitude on the Virginia Tech campus. Solitude is scheduled to undergo a major renovation and the hope is the information provided by the scanner will aid in the renovation/restoration process.
The Portable Laboratory on Uncommon Ground, a collaborative project between the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, was shipped to Tanzania and assembled at the end of July 2007. The unit has been operational since then, supporting the study of chimpanzees in the wilds of Tanzania’s Mahale Mountains National Park, part of a National Science Foundation grant. The field laboratory weighs much less than a ton and can be assembled and disassembled in only a few hours by as few as two people using no tools.
The Student Initiated Research Grant program, in its 14th year, has awarded a record number of grants to College of Architecture and Urban Studies undergraduate and graduate students. This small-grants program, with an average award of $700, emphasizes undergraduate student research designed to encourage discovery and develop a critical research methodology.
Virginia Tech is one of 20 university teams to compete in the Solar Decathlon, which was held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in fall 2009. Virginia Tech was the only university from the commonwealth represented in the competition. The teams, which were selected from universities in the United States, Canada, Spain, and Germany, are charged with designing, building, and operating an energy-efficient home powered fully by solar.
Georg Reichard, assistant professor of building construction, has been working in coordination with mechanical engineering for NASA on replicating sonic boom sound waves using Primacord technology. Their efforts resulted in the development of a model for predicting the transmission of sonic booms into buildings.
Ralph Buehler’s dissertation, “Transport Policies, Travel Behavior, and Sustainability: A Comparison of Germany and the United States,” was awarded the Barclay Gibbs Jones Award for Best Dissertation in Planning 2008 from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning.
Matthew Dull’s dissertation, “The Politics of Results: Comprehensive Reform and Institutional Choice,” was recognized with the 2008 Leonard D. White Award for the best doctoral dissertation in the field of public administration by the American Political Science Association.
Robert Dunay and Joe Wheeler exhibited the work of their students at the International Furniture Fair in Milan, Italy. The exposition, the largest and most important of its kind in the world, showcased the best work from more than 50 countries and provided students the chance to interact with top international designers.
Patrick Roberts, assistant professor in the Center for Public Administration and Policy, and Yang Zhang, assistant professor of urban affairs and planning, were selected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the prestigious Enabling the Next Generation of Hazards and Disasters Researchers program.
The Eno Transportation Foundation invited Ralph Buehler to join their Leadership Development Conference, as one of the most promising members of the next generation of transportation scholars.
Gerard Toal, professor of government and international affairs, received a significant NSF grant for his research on quasi-states and published no fewer than seven refereed articles on aspects of international relations. Toal gave the keynote address to an international conference organized to discuss “critical geopolitics” 20 years after he coined the term.
Yang Zhang, assistant professor of urban affairs and planning, and Patrick S. Roberts, assistant professor in the Center for Public Administration and Policy, School of Public and International Affairs, were named 2009-10 Next Generation Fellows as part of a program led by Thomas Birkland, the William T. Kretzer Professor of Public Policy at North Carolina State University and sponsored by the NSF. The Next Generation of Hazards and Disasters Research Fellows work together in an intensive year of learning, collaboration, and mentoring.
Wilma A. Dunaway, professor in the School of Public and International Affairs, created three websites that provide a treasure trove of historic images, narratives, and information about economic history, slaves, and 19th-century women in the American mountain South. Dunaway’s resources challenge mythology about Appalachia and provide teachers with easy access to regional diversity resource materials.
Dan Gussman, originally of Williamsburg, Va., and Brandon Lingenfelser, originally of Blacksburg, Va., two fifth-year architecture students in the School of Architecture + Design, worked with faculty to design and build an innovative house that takes advantage of the prefabricated housing process while providing all the attributes of a custom-designed home. The design includes two modules that were fabricated at the school’s research facilities. Each module was completed with as much of the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work as possible in place prior to transport to the home site.
Ornnicha Duriaprapan, a student at the Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center was the overall winner in the 2009 Virginia Society AIA Prize student competition.
Chris Strock, of Blacksburg, Va., received the university’s Graduate Student Service Award for 2008 for his exceptional work as the student organizer of the Poverty Awareness Coalition for Equality (PACE) at the university. He helped to champion service projects and fundraising activities to generate support for various health and hygiene initiatives in Belize. In addition, Strock volunteers his engineering expertise for a hospital in Nigeria, Partners in Health (PIH) in Haiti, and with Peacework, also in Belize. Strock already holds a Myers-Lawson Fellowship and a Vecellio Fellowship for his academic prowess.
In U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges 2009” survey, the College of Engineering’s undergraduate program again ranked 14th among all accredited engineering schools. Two undergraduate engineering programs rated among the top 10: aerospace engineering at 10th and industrial engineering at 6th. Other top rankings were: agricultural (biological systems), 12th; chemical, 24th; civil, 12th; electrical, 17th; environmental, 15th; and mechanical, 13th.
The magazine’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools 2010” survey, released in April 2009, ranked the college’s graduate program 27th among all of the nation’s engineering schools and 17th among engineering schools at public universities. The survey ranked four of Virginia Tech’s graduate engineering programs — biological systems, civil, environmental, and industrial — among the top 10 in their fields.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is a major contributor of grants to the college. Research expenditures during fiscal year 2007 totaled $146.4 million, placing the college 11th in the nation among the hundreds of engineering colleges for the second year in a row, according to the NSF. It is an increase of $20 million from the previous year.
Virginia Tech ranks 15th among all engineering schools in terms of the number of graduate students enrolled, according to the April 2009 issue of Prism magazine, the flagship publication of the American Society for Engineering Education.
In the most recent survey (2007) of the Engineering Workforce Commission of the American Association of Engineering Societies Inc., the College of Engineering 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 doctoral degrees.
The College of Engineering’s use of tablet PCs transformed engineering classrooms into active learning environments. The pen computing stylus and digital ink functionality of the Fujitsu tablet PC is invaluable in helping instructors introduce students to countless diagrams, drawings, and equations that are integral to engineering study. The college received a Laureate Medal from Computerworld magazine’s Honors Program for the development of its tablet PC-based learning environment.
During the past few years, the college also has spearheaded a number of other new collaborative programs aimed at bolstering the educational and research strengths of Virginia Tech:
In 2009, Virginia Tech, Wright State University, and the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, specializing in the design of aerospace vehicles, teamed to form a collaborative center for the development of future aerospace vehicles. The new center, the Collaborative Center on Multidisciplinary Sciences, is based at Virginia Tech.
The creation of the Commonwealth Center for Aerospace Propulsion Systems — a partnership among Rolls-Royce, the University of Virginia Engineering School, and Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering — will foster collaborative aerospace research while creating new educational opportunities for students at both schools.
J. Michael Ruohoniemi, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE), is the lead principal investigator on a $6 million grant to build additional radar units to the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network or SuperDARN. Nearly $2 million of the award will go to Virginia Tech and Ruohoniemi’s research center, Space@VT, directed by Wayne Scales, also of ECE.
Twelve current faculty or emeritus faculty of the college are members of the prestigious National Academy of Engineering. Eleven current or emeritus faculty are University Distinguished Professors; four are Alumni Distinguished Professors.
Three faculty members have received the NSF Presidential Faculty Fellow Award, four have received the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, nine have received the NSF Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, and 53 have received NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program awards or the Young Investigator Award (changed to CAREER in 1994). These NSF research grants are accorded to only a select roster of engineering faculty nationally.
Jesus M. de la Garza, the Vecellio Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, received the 2009 Distinguished Professor Award from the Construction Industry Institute.
Ali Butt, assistant professor of computer science, was named among the nation’s 88 brightest young engineers in 2009.
EcoDaemon, co-invented by Wu Feng, associate professor of computer science, and his Ph.D. student, Song Huang, can automatically save substantial energy while programs run on computers. This software won the Southeastern Universities Research Association first annual Intellectual Property to Market competition. The patent-pending invention was ranked number one among submissions from more than 60 research institutes in the southeast.
J. Michael Duncan, a Virginia Tech University Distinguished Professor Emeritus faculty member in the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, received the 2009 Outstanding Projects and Leaders Lifetime Achievement Award for Education from the American Society of Civil Engineers.
William R. Knocke, W.C. English Chaired Professor and head of the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, received the 2008 Virginia Outstanding Civil Engineer Award at the Virginia Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ banquet.
Maura Borrego, an assistant professor of engineering education, received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for the development of methods that will better prepare faculty and graduate students for interdisciplinary research. Borrego’s award represents the first one given to an engineer in the area of engineering education research.
Leigh McCue-Weil, an assistant professor of aerospace and ocean engineering, received a 2009 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
Godmar Back and Anil Vullikanti of computer science and Marie Paretti of engineering education each received a 2009 NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program Award to support their research. The five-year grants are worth at least $400,000 each. This is the NSF’s most prestigious award for creative junior faculty who are considered to be future leaders in their academic fields.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a graduate research fellowship to Cara Buchanan of New Bern, N.C. She is in her first year of her Ph.D. studying in the bioheat transfer and nanotherapeutics lab and the musculoskeletal and tissue regeneration lab at the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences. She is developing an in vitro tumor model to study cancer development and environmental effects on tumorigenesis.
A student team won first place at the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration/National Stone, Sand, and Gravel Association Student Design Competition. A second team earned fifth place. It marked the second consecutive year that Virginia Tech placed two teams in the finals, as well as the second year in a row that the university captured the top spot at the competition.
Junyi Zhai, a Ph.D. candidate in materials science and engineering, was selected in 2009 for the Director’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) in New Mexico. Zhai and nine other students from around the nation were selected from more than 300 candidates.
A mechanical engineering student design team is providing a Kenyan medical clinic with electric power. The students are creating a solar energy system for the Getongoroma Medical Clinic, west of Nairobi. The additional electric power will allow the clinic to provide clean well water, refrigerated vaccines, HIV testing, and an X-ray facility.
Virginia Tech is one of only two U.S. universities invited to compete in the first Solar Decathlon Europe, which will take place in Madrid in June 2010. The Solar Decathlon Madrid competition is modeled on the biennial U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. In these decathlons, universities compete to design and build a self-sufficient house using solar power as the only source of energy.
A team of graduate and undergraduate students working under the guidance of Dennis Hong, director of the mechanical engineering’s Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa), won the grand prize at the 2008 International Capstone Design Fair with a trio of pole-climbing serpentine robots designed to take the place of construction workers tasked with dangerous jobs, such as inspecting high-rises or underwater bridge piers.
Additionally, the RoMeLa won the 2008-2009 Compressed Air and Gas Institute’s Innovation Award Contest with the concept of a unique robotic hand that can firmly hold objects as heavy as a can of food or as delicate as a raw egg, while dexterous enough to gesture in sign language.
Virginia Tech’s Neighbors Growing Together (NGT) program, the country’s only university-based shared-site intergenerational care program, received a 2009 Intergenerational Shared Site Best Practices Award — only one of five selected nationally — from Generations United. The NGT program combines the Adult Day Services program and the Child Development Center for Learning and Research. It engages nearly 100 undergraduate and graduate students each year through their work with elders and children, while the community benefits from the services provided.
The Center for Gerontology has been named a “Collaborating Centre” by the International Association for Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG), headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Virginia Tech center met the IAGG criteria for excellence, including being a multidisciplinary university-level research center, offering a gerontology training program, providing evidence of research productivity through peer-reviewed publications, and providing evidence of sustainability by having a multi-year budget, professional and/or support staff, and multiple research affiliates.
Among the recipients of the 2008 University Exemplary Department Award were three units in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences: the Department of History, the Department of Teaching and Learning in the School of Education, and the Undergraduate Research Institute. The awards were presented to departments that work collaboratively across departmental boundaries to fulfill common or complementary goals.
For the past seven years, the Department of History and the Department of Teaching and Learning have worked together on a series of projects with a common goal of providing enhanced training and tools for K-12 teachers of history and social studies in Virginia. The projects have received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the U.S. Department of Education, and other state and federal agencies. They have helped more than 100 teachers enhance their skills in the classroom and have made new and innovative teaching materials available to many more.
The CLAHS Undergraduate Research Institute was conceived only three years ago and already is fulfilling its mission to expose undergraduate students to investigation, inquiry, and creative expression in the liberal arts and human sciences; enhance opportunities for advanced research initiatives; elevate the visibility of that research; and provide access to resources for student development and faculty mentorship. Some 59 students have been matched with faculty mentors in research activities, and through a competitive grant process, 29 students have received funding to further their research.
The career and technical education graduate program in the School of Education tied for fourth place among vocational and technical specialties in this year’s U.S. News & World Report survey of America’s Best Graduate Schools, moving up a position from 2008. The program currently has 100 master’s students and 30 doctoral students in such fields as business and information technology education, family and consumer sciences education, marketing education, and agricultural education. It has consistently achieved high rankings in the survey, having placed among the top five seven times and in the top 10 every year for the past 15 years.
M. David Alexander, professor of educational leadership and policy studies in the School of Education, was awarded support from the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program for a four-week study in Beijing, Xian, and Chengdu in the People’s Republic of China.
Katherine Allen, professor of human development, served as the 2009 International Visiting Scholar at Tokyo’s Ochanomizu University, where she taught a course on feminist pedagogy and research methods to faculty and students in the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Professor of Sociology Toni Calasanti served as a Visiting Fellow of the Centre of Gender Excellence at Linköpings University in Sweden.
Paul Harrill, assistant professor of theatre and cinema, won the top prize in the Faculty Juried Screening Award: Narrative Category at the University Film and Video Association Annual for his latest film, “Quick Feet, Soft Hands.” The film also was nominated for a Rosebud Award for the best film produced in Virginia, Maryland, or Washington, D.C.
Bob Hicok, associate professor of English, received his second National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. In 2009, Hicok, whose poetry made its fifth appearance in The Best American Poetry and its third appearance in the Pushcart anthology, read his work at the Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill and on PBS for the “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.”
W. Wat Hopkins, professor of communication, was named the Roy H. Park Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina for spring 2010.
With guidance from Ashley Maynor, assistant professor of theatre and cinema, Kgomotso Creativity Camp was one of two Virginia Tech programs to receive funding from the Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Foundation. At the edge of the Kalahari desert, 20 middle school students were taught basic storytelling and creative writing skills and on the last day presented their completed stories and poems to each other and the community.
Billie Lepczyk, associate professor of learning sciences and technologies in the School of Education, was named the University Dance Educator of the Year by the National Dance Association.
Terry Papillon, professor of classics in Foreign Languages and Literatures, was appointed director of the University Honors Program. In this capacity, he is responsible for leading a program that provides Honors students with enhanced access to faculty mentoring and the tools needed to achieve a top-rated education.
Jennifer Lamb, a dual degree Honors student, was named a 2009 Truman Scholar, receiving a $30,000 scholarship for graduate study. The Truman Scholarship recognizes college juniors with exceptional leadership potential who are committed to careers in public service. Only the third Truman Scholar ever from Virginia Tech, Lamb is majoring in political science in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences and in agricultural and applied economics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She also has a minor in history.
David Grant, a religious studies and political science major with minors in history and Spanish, and Carla Rood, a political science major with minors in classical studies and leadership studies, were named Virginia Tech’s 2009 Undergraduate Man and Woman of the Year. Grant is continuing his journalism career with the Associated Press in Detroit, while Rood works in New York City as an executive assistant to the CEO of the organizational development and leadership consulting firm Benchmark Communications.
Tremayne “Trey” Waller, a doctoral student in the School of Education curriculum and instruction program, was selected Graduate Man of the Year. Under Waller’s leadership, the Student Transition Engineering Program saw both an increase in participation and a greater success rate for participants.
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 type 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 the research impact of North American forestry programs published in the Journal of Forestry, Virginia Tech’s program was second on the perceptions-based composite score and third on the citations- and publications-based index.
Virginia Tech hosted 800 environmental journalists, government officials, and nonprofit organization leaders from around the nation and the world for the 18th Annual Conference for the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. The College of Natural Resources led the university effort, planning a robust agenda that included more than 100 sessions and field trips, a sold-out preconference workshop on climate, and a poster session by 50 university professors and graduate students. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin opened the five-day conference, which was focused on energy, climate, water, the land, and environmental health.
University and college officials dedicated a wooden sculpture — a gift from West Virginia University and the University of West Hungary — honoring those who lost their lives in the April 16, 2007, tragedy. The monument, a 14.5-foot sculpture carved from a single piece of wood, stands outside the entrance to the College of Natural Resources’ Cheatham Hall. Sculptor Levente Denes, a University of West Hungary visiting associate professor of forestry at West Virginia University, designed the tribute.
The college established a joint graduate program with the Appalachian School of Law (ASL), an independent institution that helps foster economic growth in Southwest Virginia. Under a cooperative agreement, ASL students have access to classes offered through the college’s master of natural resources program online distance learning and video broadcast classes. The program will enable law students to incorporate natural resources law, policy, and science into their legal studies. College of Natural Resources students can also expand their knowledge by enrolling in select ASL courses.
The college’s urban forestry program was the first in the nation to receive the Society of American Foresters specialized accreditation in urban forestry. The new interdisciplinary curriculum offers the core fundamentals of urban forestry biology, practice, management, and policy.
Virginia Tech was recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation for its best practices in campus community forestry through its new Tree Campus USA program, and the university celebrated the achievement with a tree-planting event on campus. Tree Campus USA honors college campuses for promoting healthy urban forest management and engaging the campus community in environmental stewardship.
The geography department’s World Regions course offered the largest class ever at Virginia Tech when it was moved to the 3,003-seat auditorium in Burruss Hall in fall 2008. The class is about three times the size of the next largest class at the university, accommodating more than 10 percent of the student population. The class’ overwhelming popularity is largely due to instructor John Boyer, a perennial student favorite who has won numerous Students’ Choice Awards for Faculty Member of the Year.
Paul Winistorfer, head of the college’s Department of Wood Science and Forest Products, was selected as the new dean of the College of Natural Resources effective Aug. 1, 2009, following Dean Mike Kelly’s retirement after five years of service.
The college’s Department of Forestry has been renamed the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation to better reflect the breadth and depth of the many natural resource programs offered and to promote its programs more accurately.
In response to a recent outbreak of emerald ash borer, an exotic beetle that has killed more than 40 million ash trees in the Midwest and other areas, the college’s Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation is working in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and the Virginia Department of Forestry to better understand the potential impact of this pest to urban forests in the state’s cities and towns. College researchers are assessing municipal street tree populations to estimate the abundance of native ashes and their contribution to local ecosystem services. The data collected will help municipalities calculate the value of their street tree resources and develop plans for mitigating the insect’s impact.
Michael Mortimer is the new director of the master of natural resources program in the National Capital Region. The program, which has rapidly grown in size and reputation since it was established in 1997, is targeted to serve natural resources government agencies and nonprofit organizations, most of which are headquartered in the Washington, D.C., area.
To showcase the state’s most special trees and to connect a new generation to its roots, forestry professor and Extension specialist Jeff Kirwan teamed up with author Nancy Ross Hugo and photographer Robert Llewellyn to publish Remarkable Trees of Virginia, which was released in August 2008. The authors traveled hundreds of miles across the state to visit and photograph trees nominated for inclusion in the book, which is in its third printing less than a year after its original release. Kirwan continues to travel the state promoting the Remarkable Trees project and fostering a love of trees in children and adults alike.
Susan Day, professor of forestry and horticulture, led an interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers from Virginia Tech, Cornell University, and the University of California at Davis working to protect water resources by integrating trees into urban stormwater management systems. Their innovative approach was featured in an issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality and was published in the manual, Managing Stormwater for Urban Sustainability Using Trees and Structural Soils.
Kirsten de Beurs, assistant professor of geography, received a NASA grant to direct a large international land abandonment study in Russia. The study will incorporate population trends, cultural factors, and climate change in predicting land abandonment patterns.
John McGee, assistant professor of forestry and geospatial Extension specialist, is co-leader of an interdisciplinary team that received a grant from the National Park Service and Blue Ridge Heritage Inc. to develop a sustainable tourism strategy for the Rocky Knob area of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Jim Berkson, associate professor of fisheries and wildlife sciences and a unit leader for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Fisheries Service, was a major contributor to a NOAA report released to Congress on the country’s pending shortage of fisheries scientists, specifically those who focus on stock assessment.
Scott Klopfer was named executive director of the Conservation Management Institute, a multidisciplinary research center within the college.
Audrey Zink-Sharp, professor of wood science and forest products, was elected a Fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science, a nonprofit assembly of scientists representing all facets of wood science.
Brian Murphy, professor of fisheries and wildlife sciences, received one of two Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Awards in recognition of his continued commitment to scholarship addressing higher education teaching and learning.
Tom Hammett, professor of wood science and forest products, was invited by the Sustainable Forest and Nature Management Commission to teach as a Scholar of Excellence at Georg-Ausust University in Goettingen, Germany, where he established an international seminar on non-timber forest products curriculum development.
Donald Orth, the Thomas Jones Professor of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, received one of three Making a Difference Awards from the Instream Flow Council. The award recognizes persistent activities to inform and educate the public about the importance of instream flow and its benefits to society.
N. Danielle Bridgers, a doctoral student in fisheries and wildlife sciences, was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. She is the first to successfully use sonar to research bog turtles.
Christine Bergeron, a doctoral student in fisheries and wildlife sciences, received an Environmental Protection Agency Science to Achieve Results fellowship for her research on the reproductive success of American toads.
Sarah DuRant, a doctoral student in fisheries and wildlife sciences, received Grants-in-Aid of Research awards from both the scientific research society Sigma Xi and the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology for her research on wood ducks.
Rachel Mair, a doctoral student in fisheries and wildlife sciences, received the first-ever Rachel Carson Award for Scientific Excellence from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for her work developing successful culture systems and feeding regimes for the culture and propagation of endangered freshwater mussels.
Claudia Wultsch, a doctoral student in fisheries and wildlife sciences, received a Kaplan Graduate Award from Panthera, Partners in Wild Cat Conservation. She and Maria Bravo-Vinaja, a fellow doctoral student in fisheries and wildlife sciences, each received International Peace Scholarships from the Philanthropic Education Organization, which provides scholarships for international female students to pursue graduate study in the United States and Canada.
Research projects by two students were selected by Sigma Xi for recognition and support: Brian Gerber, a master’s student in fisheries and wildlife sciences, for his work developing programs for the conservation and management of resources in the rainforests of Madagascar and the protection of rainforest carnivores and their lemur prey, and Nabin Baral, a doctoral student in forest resources and environmental conservation, for his work determining the institutional resilience of community-based conservation in the face of the Maoist insurgency in his home country of Nepal.
Robert Leaf, a doctoral student in fisheries and wildlife sciences, received the Robert D. Ross scholarship for graduate students by the Virginia Chapter of the American Fisheries Society.
Lucy Adams, a sophomore wildlife sciences major, won first place and Holly Kays, a sophomore double majoring in natural resources conservation and English, won second place in the Virginia Outdoor Writers Association fourth annual undergraduate writing competition, which encourages young adults to cultivate their creative talents in writing by describing how outdoor experiences have influenced their lives.
The College of Science is leading some of the first biomedical research projects underway at the newly formed Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute. These include research on infectious diseases, nanoscale optics, and neuroscience.
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 unique joint degree programs with law schools at the University of Richmond and Washington and Lee University that enable students in as little as six years to obtain bachelor of science and law degrees 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. In addition, the department was named the 33rd best in clinical psychology in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools 2010.”
The College of Science has a Nobel-prize-winning alumnus: Robert C. Richardson (B.S. physics ’58; M.S. physics ’60).
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.
Three faculty members from the Department of Chemistry were recently named CAREER Award winners by the National Science Foundation: Edward Valeev, Theresa Reineke, and Lou Madsen.
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).
Ashley Morgenstern (chemistry) and Kevin Finelli (physics and mathematics) were awarded prestigious Goldwater scholarships in 2009.
Brian Skinner (physics ’07) was awarded the Goldwater Scholarship in 2006 and was a finalist for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.
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).
Four students from the College of Science were awarded prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships in 2009. They are: Shiv Dutt Kale (biochemistry and biological sciences), Laura Hamm (geosciences), Bradley Shapiro (mathematics and economics), and David Abrams (physics and computer science).
Jessica Lu, a graduate student in chemistry, received a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research in Israel.
Laura Freeman (statistics) was named Virginia Tech Woman of the Year in 2009.
Two students from the college serve as the student representatives on the university’s board of visitors. They are Rebecca French, graduate student in geosciences, and Kristina Hartman, biological sciences.
COS alumnus Joseph Desimone (Ph.D. Chemistry ’90) recently received the university’s 2009 Graduate Alumni Achievement Award for his accomplishments as a scholar and innovator. He currently holds two chaired professorships at the University of North Carolina.
Christine George, a 2008 biological sciences graduate, was named to the 2008 All-USA Academic First Team.
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 500-plus U.S. undergraduate programs accredited by AACSB International (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International).
The Pamplin College ranks 25th among U.S. institutions for number of business doctorates produced in 1996-2000, based on data in AACSB’s 2003 Doctoral Faculty Commission Report.
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.
Pamplin’s business information technology program is among the top 10 IT programs in the country, according to TechRepublic, an online forum and resource for IT professionals.
The world’s top 50 tourism scholars include members of Pamplin’s hospitality and tourism management faculty, says a study in Tourism Management journal. The study listed Pamplin professors Muzzo (Muzaffer) Uysal, Richard Perdue, and Ken McCleary, along with professor emeritus Michael Olsen, who retired last year.
Management Associate Professor Devi Gnyawali has been awarded the university’s 2008 Alumni Award for Excellence in International Education.
Hospitality and tourism management Professor Mahmood A. Khan received a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar grant to teach at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi during the 2009-2010 academic year.
Business information technology students in a course taught by assistant professor Alan Abrahams published a guide to e-business. The free e-book edition received more than 6,000 downloads (in July 2009) via businessguidebook.org/ebook, which had visitors from all 50 states and more than 100 countries. The hardcopy guidebook (more than 9,000 copies in print) is available free at all small business development centers in Virginia, Florida, New York, and central California.
Bige Saatcioglu, a doctoral candidate in marketing, won the American Marketing Association’s 2009 Marketing and Society Award for her dissertation proposal, “The Practices of Consumer Resistance Among the Working Poor.” She is studying the strategies that residents of trailer parks and other low-income consumers use in a marketplace dominated by stereotypes about the poor.
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.
The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM) has been awarded full accreditation from the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) International following an extensive program evaluation and site visitation. Earning AAALAC accreditation is a rigorous process that involves a detailed examination of an organization’s institutional policies, procedures, and performance regarding animal care and use in the areas of research, education, testing, and breeding. Teams of professionals evaluate a comprehensive written document and conduct a site visitation that analyzes institutional performance in animal husbandry, veterinary care, physical plant, and other areas.
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 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 hospital also installed a new Toshiba Aquilion 16-slice Computed Tomography scanner that will significantly improve imaging quality and speed. With the new scanner, which is approximately five times faster than its predecessor, the average scanning time is so rapid patients can be examined under sedation rather than general anesthesia.
The Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center opened a major new laboratory building, one that is equipped to explore the molecular aspects of disease and trauma. The 2,400-square-foot lab is set up for bench-top research, which includes growing stem cells for study and clinical application as well as identifying inflammatory proteins and molecules associated with numerous diseases and injuries. All of these methods are needed to help understand complex medical problems and to develop new treatments.
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 was awarded almost $1 million from the National Institutes of Health to explore the development of a nanotechnology-based approach for protecting people from the deadly affects of nerve gases like Sarin, VX, and others that can be used as agents of terror.
Dr. X.J. Meng, a professor of molecular virology, was one of two recipients of the university’s 2008 Alumni Award for Research Excellence — the highest research award given at the university. The award was established by the Virginia Tech Alumni Association to recognize university faculty who have made outstanding contributions in research. Meng’s research focus is on emerging and re-emerging viral diseases that impact public health. He is widely considered one of the world’s leading scientists in hepatitis E virus, type 2 porcine circovirus, and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. Meng was also named Virginia Tech’s inaugural Fralin Life Science Institute Senior Faculty Fellow.
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.
Dr. Bonnie Smith, associate professor of anatomy, embryology, and physiology, was awarded the national Carl J. Norden-Pfizer Distinguished Teaching Award, an honor that celebrates her as the best among the thousands of professors teaching in the nation’s 28 colleges of veterinary medicine.
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 on the VMRCVM’s College Park, Md., campus, Dr. Daniel Perez is leading a science team that has developed a universal influenza vaccine for animals that may help prevent or delay another human flu pandemic. The team has developed a vaccine component that can be used to immunize both birds and mammals from dangerous forms of the flu, including the highly lethal H5N1 avian influenza strain. Perez is considered one of the nations’ leading experts in avian influenza H5N1.
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.
Inzana was also awarded a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to study the role biofilm plays in the development of Bovine Respiratory Disease Complex (BRDC). The grant will allow Inzana and his fellow investigators, Drs. Indra Sandal and William Scarratt, to study the role of biofilm in the virulence of Histophilus somni, which is one of the bacteria responsible for BRDC.
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 into an agent that can fight cancer in humans.
Ninety-two percent of Virginia Tech’s academic departments are engaged in developing and/or delivering eLearning courses.
There were 18,004 credit and non-credit eLearning enrollments at the undergraduate and graduate levels through the delivery of 796 credit and non-credit eLearning courses.
Based on eLearning responses from end-of-term surveys, 89 percent of eLearners indicated they were satisfied or very satisfied with their eLearning experience, 93 percent indicated that the quality of technology and connectivity supported their learning, and 89 percent indicated course design enabled their learning.
The Institute for Distance and Distributed Learning Enterprise Fund generated $3.12 million in tuition income, with $2,025,897 going directly to the colleges and programs and $205,586 going into the Provost’s Course Development Fund.
The Office of University Summer Sessions initiated a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship for the 2009 summer sessions program to provide job opportunities and research experience for undergraduate students.
Working in concert with DLSS on-site approvals and course delivery, the Virginia Tech-Middle East and North Africa program expanded during fiscal year 2009 to include governmental universities.
The Office of International Affairs, which is responsible for multinational engagement, manages $64 million in funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to implement innovative projects in 44 developing countries. It also administers the university’s international education programs, including the Center for European Studies and Architecture in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland, and 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 is working with several communities around Virginia to model distributed research programs that will echo the IALR plan.
The Office of Economic Development (OED) provided thought leadership to the Tobacco Commission on a major focus on energy as a way to transform the economy of the Tobacco Commission’s geographic footprint. This effort culminated in a $40 million investment in facilities and operating support and $100 million in research with an applied focus toward commercialization. OED led a major effort to commercialize research from Virginia Tech and IALR. This effort culminated in five market research and analysis projects and implementation plans for the Southern region on plant biology and automotive performance engineering.
The Center for Student Engagement and Community Partnerships continued development of the Pilot Street Project, a service-learning partnership with Refugee and Immigration Services and Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority that engages 130 Virginia Tech students and serves nearly 200 refugees, most of whom are from east African nations. Its VT-ENGAGE program continued to garner extraordinary volunteer support with 131,000 hours of service that included the work of 250 students, staff, and faculty helping at 17 community organizations during a ML King Day of Service.
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 19 high schools. Talent Search annually serves 750-800 students from 29 middle and high schools.
Outreach and International Affairs units deliver more than 300 programs each year to 25,000-40,000 people.
Dining Services was awarded the prestigious Ivy Award by Restaurants and Institutions magazine. The Ivy award is an honor that recognizes the best foodservice operations and restaurants in the industry.
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). It annually commissions 80 percent of its graduates while VMI, the Citadel, and Texas A&M commission 35 to 50 percent.
The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets was honored by Gov. Timothy Kaine with the Governor’s Volunteerism and Community Service Award in the governmental and educational institutional category.
The Dean of Students Office hosted the second of year of Hokie Camp. 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. After reviewing the 2008 pilot program of Hokie Camp, new initiatives were implemented, including paid student leadership, partnership with the Bursar’s Office to accept online camp payments, and expanding the camp program to accommodate up to 900 new students over three sessions.
Fraternity and Sorority Life raised and donated more than $87,000 and completed more than 60,000 hours of community service toward various philanthropies.
The SGA-sponsored Relay For Life in spring 2009 was the largest collegiate Relay for Life in the world, raising $507,000.
Multicultural Programs and Services implemented more than 180 cultural programs involving collaborations with more than 85 campus and community partners, reaching an estimated 12,500 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.
Student volunteers served as note-takers for students with disabilities who need the service as an accommodation. For summer and fall 2008 and spring 2009, 201 students served as volunteer note-takers for a total of 9,426 hours.
The Graduate Life Center at Virginia Tech is the only graduate center in the United States providing meeting and event space, a graduate residential component, and Graduate School offices in one general facility. Recently, an amphitheater was constructed in front of the Graduate Life Center as a new venue for performances and classes, as well as a place for students to relax between classes.
The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) is the largest university-level research center at Virginia Tech. It features 10 transportation safety research groups: the Center for Automotive Safety Research, Center for Vehicle-Infrastructure Safety, Center for Truck and Bus Safety, Center for Sustainable Mobility, Center for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure, Center for Technology Development, Center for Product Development, Center for Injury Biomechanics-Transportation, Transportation Policy Group, and the National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence.
The Institute employs more than 225 research faculty, staff, and students working on more than 93 projects and continues to be the largest supporter of both undergraduate and graduate students at the university.
In July 2009, VTTI completed an analysis using data from previously conducted heavy vehicles studies specifically aimed at texting while driving. The results of this analysis garnered more than 2,000 media hits in seven days, appearing in all major news outlets in the U.S. and many internationally. Three days after releasing these results, a call for a nationwide ban on texting while driving was announced. Subsequently, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called for a summit to gather senior transportation officials, safety advocates, law enforcement representatives, members of Congress, and academics who study distracted driving. LaHood expects the summit to produce several recommendations for specific actions to address this issue.
The Center for Truck and Bus Safety developed a website to raise the consciousness of CMV drivers about common driving errors. This website, sponsored and hosted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), provides valuable driving tips to prevent crashes. The website was the final deliverable of a FMCSA-sponsored, large-vehicle, naturalistic driving study conducted by VTTI.
VTTI is poised to begin the first phase the largest naturalistic driving study ever conducted, titled “Design of the In-Vehicle Driving Behavior and Crash Risk Study” and sponsored by the National Acadamies of Science (NAS). NAS chose VTTI in a competitive process largely due to their experience in naturalistic driving research.
The Center for Sustainable Mobility (CSM) was awarded an NAS SHRP2 L10 project to study the feasibility of using in-vehicle video data to explore how to modify driver behavior and reduce non-recurring congestion.
The Center for Automotive Safety Research is conducting ongoing naturalistic driving research on teen drivers with the goal of gathering information on how teenagers’ driving habits change over the first 18 months of licensed driving. The goal of this study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, is to better understand the issues associated with newly licensed teen drivers, who are at a much higher crash risk when compared to other drivers.
VTTI was independently approached by representatives from Bedford and Montgomery counties in Virginia to design a teen driving program to provide education and comprehensive monitoring and coaching. The program’s goals are to correct the most critical unsafe behaviors of teen drivers and to provide a comprehensive feedback mechanism for both teens and parents. This initiative is currently in progress with implementation expected over the next two years.
A new partnership was established in early 2009 between VTTI and the Center for Injury Biomechanics (CIB). The new team was awarded approximately $3 million from U.S. Army Research Acquisition Activity to study the biomechanics of head, neck, and chest injury prevention for soldiers. This represents the first major grant awarded for the partnership, which combines VTTI’s auto safety expertise with CIB’s injury biomechanics for military applications.