Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 1 No. 3 | Page 19

Virginia Tech
comes up big
to advance
Hyperloop
development
Virginia Tech’s Hyperloop team
won’t have to travel far to test the
pod that it unveiled Sept. 12.
Before the unveiling of "Vhyper,"
began, Stefan Duma, interim
director of the Institute for Critical
Technology and Applied Science
at Virginia Tech, announced the
university would build a test track
on the Blacksburg campus -- the
first of its kind on the East Coast.
Hyperloop is a high-speed transportation system using a passenger-carrying pod in a near-vacuum
tube that is envisioned to reach
speeds in excess of 700 mph.
Duma said the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost,
the College of Engineering, and
the institute would partner to fund
the test track’s construction, which
will be located in the Plantation
Road research facility. The initiative
is part of the university’s broader
effort to emphasize intelligent
infrastructure through a series of
learning opportunities for students
and occasions for the university to
collaborate with industry partners.
“With the hands-on experience
this test track will provide, our
students will make technological

People who attended the Hyperloop unveiling Sept. 12 were treated to more
than a close look at Vhyper, the team's pod. They also were on hand for the
announcement of the decision to build a Hyperloop test track in Blacksburg.

breakthroughs the world has never
seen before,” said Duma, the Harry
Wyatt Professor of Engineering.
“It’s a physical manifestation of
the university’s commitment to
creating intelligent infrastructure
for the 21st century, and it will give
Virginia Tech students the tools to
solve complex global problems.”
Duma further credited the
Hyperloop team of 33 undergraduate students for combining deep
knowledge in a discipline with
crosscutting skills in communications and project management.
While details of the track design,
length, and timeline for completion
have yet to be determined, Duma
and G. Don Taylor, interim dean of

the College of Engineering, have
said they see the track as a positive
development not only for Virginia
Tech, but also for Southwest
Virginia.
"With the provost's office and
ICTAS, the College of Engineering is
excited to enhance the university’s
intelligent infrastructure plan in
providing our Hyperloop student
team with the resources to be
successful on a global stage," said
Taylor, who is also the Charles O.
Gordon Professor of Engineering.
"Through purpose-driven education, applied research capabilities,
and world-class facilities, our
students are poised to impact the
future of transportation.”

VIDEO
The video at left
is a recording
of the Virginia
Tech Hyperloop
Team's Sept. 12
unveiling ceremony and track
announcement.