2022 Annual Report 2022 | Page 3

Greetings , Colleagues .
I am pleased to share some highlights of another successful academic year in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech , full of faculty and student research accomplishments . This year , Shima Shahab and Alan Asbeck won NSF CAREER awards , and Michael Bartlett received an ONR Young Investigator Award . Lance Collins became a trustee for the Society of Science , and Chris Williams was named a senior National Academy of Inventors member . Ling Li and Reza Mirzaiefar received a new Mary Jones Faculty Fellow and the John R . Jones III Faculty Fellow titles , respectively , increasing our endowed honorific list to 17 faculty . The list goes on with many more accolades , including ASME Fellowships , several student awards , and staff recognitions .
Our department ’ s research quality has reached new heights , further distinguishing our team ’ s achievements . Additive manufacturing has been a feature of our research and education for over a decade and advanced as one of the College of Engineering ’ s cross-disciplinary research investment areas last year . This year , our students have taken its potential to the next level . A NASA grant has funded a group of students who successfully built a robotic work cell that creates a drone that flies away from its own printer , putting new possibilities for tasking drones in the field . You can read about it on page 34 .
Michael Bartlett ’ s exceptional work in developing an octopus-inspired glove capable of securely gripping objects underwater was selected for the July cover of Science Advances and received enormous national media coverage ( see Page 46 .)
Our growth continued progressively . We successfully recruited six new outstanding faculty , including three tenure and tenure-track faculty and three highly experienced Collegiate faculty from Industry . They bring exceptional professional engineering skills to our classes . We remain the fifth largest BS ME-producing department in the nation , according to ASEE data . Similarly , our graduate student body has grown above 310 , with most pursuing doctoral degrees .
The architectural planning for the new Mitchell Hall to replace Randolph Hall is in progress . It will be the largest academic building on campus and house part of the Departments of Mechanical , Chemical , Aerospace and Ocean Engineering . It will also include the Department of Engineering Education and other college groups such as CEED and the advising center .
I am proud of our department ’ s accomplishments , the continuing support of our alumni , and our advisory board ’ s leadership to elevate us to new heights . I invite you to visit us on campus and see our significant progress first-hand .
Azim Eskandarian Nicholas and Rebecca des Champs Professor and Department Head Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering