Impact

The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is internationally recognized for its excellence in 14 engineering disciplines and computer science, many ranked as Top 10 by U.S. News & World Report in its undergraduate and graduate listings. The college's 6,000 undergraduates benefit from an innovative curriculum that provides a “hands-on, minds-on” approach to engineering education, complementing classroom instruction with two unique design-and-build facilities and a strong Cooperative Education Program. With more than 50 research centers and numerous laboratories, the college offers its 2,000-plus graduate students opportunities in advanced fields of study such as biomedical engineering, state-of-the-art microelectronics, and nanotechnology. Virginia Tech, the most comprehensive university in Virginia, is dedicated to quality, innovation, and results to the commonwealth, the nation, and the world.

The College of Engineering is an economic engine at Virginia Tech, as well as in Blacksburg, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the nation and beyond. The impact of the efforts of our alumni, faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students in the areas of science and technology, as well as in many other fields of study, is extraordinary.

Among its most-recent high-profile works:

Mechanical engineering's Robotics and Mechanism Laboratory (RoMeLa) team, led by associate professor Dennis Hong, designed a vehicle that one day could allow the blind to drive, thus reaching new means of independence. This effort is part of the National Federation of the Blind's Blind Driver Challenge, which has since taken on the mantra of Race for Independence.

When news broke of this research in summer of 2009, media outlets from around the world came calling to cover the work of Virginia Tech's undergraduate students. The Washington Post featured the project on its front page. More importantly, hundreds of low-vision and blind people also called, wrote and e-mailed, asking for details about the car and almost without exception offering to help bring this project to reality. Work has continued on the Blind Driver Challenge, with the a second-generation vehicle taking track for a successful drive – by a blind man – at the famous Daytona International Speedway. The story was later told on NBC's "Today Show," and more recently has appeared on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" and soon will appear on "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer." The success of the vehicle coincides with RoMeLa’s breakout success as a new world leader in humanoid robotics, having recently captured the top award at the international robot soccer competition known as RoboCup.

During the summer of 2011, Virginia Tech’s HybridElectric Vehicle Team (HEVT) won the EcoCAR Challenge, a three-year competition design to spur U.S. and Canadian science and engineering students to build more energy-efficient cars. In all, the student team won 14 awards after re-engineering a 2009 General Motors crossover SUV into a hybrid electric vehicle that boasts the equivalent of 82 miles per gallon. Prestige, cash prizes, and trophies were not the only benefits of the win. Ninety percent of the graduating students on the 2010-11 team found jobs right out of school because of their exposure to industry-leading software and hardware tools.

Virginia Tech researchers have long been studying how head impacts suffered by athletes relate to concussions and other injuries. The research, spearhead by Stefan Duma, the Virginia Tech professor of biomedical engineering and department head of the Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences (SBES), has led to the development of the National Impact Database, containing the first safety rating system available for adult football helmets. The research has evolved to studies of child football helmets and head impacts during youth games, as well as military personnel, including Blackhawk helicopter pilots and others serving in combat. The work in football helmets has led to mass media coverage, including by ABC's "The View," New York Times, the Associated Press, and ESPN News.

College of Engineering alumni continue forging careers as leaders of industry in the public and private sectors.

Regina Dugan (pictured at left), who received her bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech, was named as the new director of the federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. She is the first woman to hold the post.

Popular Science named Maurizio Porfiri (pictured at right), who earned both master's and doctoral degrees in engineering mechanics from Virginia Tech in 2000 and 2006, to its 2010 Brilliant 10 List. Porfiri, now an assistant professor at Polytechnic Institute of New York University works with robots. Just the year before, Virginia Tech Associate Professor Dennis Hong – founder and director of the Robotics and Mechanism Laboratory – was given the same honor. Two years, two Hokies. That's the power of Virginia Tech's College of Engineering.

Letitia A. Long, also a Hokie engineer, in 2010 became the first woman director of a major U.S. intelligence agency, taking the chief’s post at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Her 32-year career has led to a series of senior management positions: Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and, most recently, Second-in-Command at the Defense Intelligence Agency. National Geospatial-Intelligence was established in 1996.

Learn more about Virginia Tech's College of Engineering in the news.

To receive the latest news and headlines about the College of Engineering, follow us on Twitter or join us on Facebook.

For information about supporting the Signature Engineering Building contact Erin Edwards at (540) 231-4066 or eedwards@vt.edu.

Southwest