Virginia Tech has entered into an innovative partnership to assist the Commonwealth of Virginia attain global leadership in aerospace-related industries. The higher education component of this partnership includes the hiring of exceptional faculty at all ranks in areas that will grow our research and development capabilities in key technical areas.
An important component of this partnership is the emerging relationship that we have with Rolls-Royce, a leading global provider of power systems and services for the civil aerospace, defense aerospace, marine and energy markets, that has committed to building new manufacturing facilities in Virginia. The partnership with Rolls-Royce includes a broad spectrum of research endeavors designed to support the Commonwealth of Virginia in attaining global leadership in aerospace industries. The Commonwealth Center for Aerospace Propulsion Systems is a virtual research center with projects based on the campus of Virginia Tech that will support basic and applied research in fields related to the gas turbine industry. The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing is a research center that will be located on the new Rolls-Royce manufacturing campus in Prince George County, VA, and will focus on the acceleration of basic research into technologies that can be applied to the development of advanced manufacturing systems for a diverse range of industry sectors. Both of these research centers are a joint collaboration between Virginia Tech College of Engineering and the School of Engineering at the University of Virginia. It is expected that faculty members hired in this search will take leading roles in working with our industry and university partners in the successful development of both of these research centers.
For these reasons Virginia Tech seeks outstanding candidates at all ranks in the following technical areas:
- Advanced materials with a special emphasis on high-performance coatings
- Advanced propulsion systems with an emphasis on gas turbines for aerospace and marine applications and associated technologies such as nondestructive evaluation and structural health monitoring.
- Advanced manufacturing systems with an emphasis on manufacturing processes and production systems.
Exceptional candidates at senior ranks will be considered for endowed professorship positions in related technical fields.
Faculty hired through this search will work with other faculty in the College to form a core group in the field of advanced materials, advanced propulsion, and advanced manufacturing. We expect that core faculty will form the basis of interdisciplinary teams that will seek competitive funding. We also expect that core faculty with work closely with our industrial partners to ensure the success of the research and development activities related to new aerospace manufacturing endeavors in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
This hiring opportunity represents collaboration between three departments in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech: the Mechanical Engineering Department, Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, and Industrial and Systems Engineering. The points of contact for the searches in these three departments are listed below.
Candidates interested in this hiring opportunity are encouraged to contact the chair of the departmental search committee that best suits their qualifications.
| Mechanical Engineering | Dr. Daniel Inman | dinman@vt.edu |
| Aerospace and Ocean Engineering | Dr. Rakesh Kapania | rkapania@vt.edu |
| Industrial Systems Engineering | Dr. John Shewchuk | shewchuk@vt.edu |
Virginia Tech has a strong commitment to the principle of diversity and, in that spirit, seeks a broad spectrum of candidates including women, minorities, and people with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities desiring accommodations in the application process or needing this material in an alternate format should notify (name, department, telephone and TTY number) by the application deadline. Virginia Tech is the recipient of the National Science Foundation ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award to increase the participation of women in academic science and engineering careers.