Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 1 No. 3 | Page 6

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awards

Davalos named L. Preston
Wade Professor
Rafael Davalos,
professor of biomedical engineering and
mechanics and an
affiliate professor with
Davalos
the Department of
Mechanical Engineering, has been
awarded the L. Preston Wade
Professorship by the Virginia Teach
Board of Visitors. The professorship was established by its
namesake, a member of the class
of 1955, to recognize teaching and
research excellence. The position
is held for five years. To read more
about the position, see the article
in VTNews.

Tarazaga named faculty to
Myers-Lawson School of
Construction
Pablo Tarazaga,
assistant professor,
has been named a
principal faculty in
the Myers-Lawson
School of Construction, Tarazaga
where he will begin and continue
collaborations on his research into
intelligent infrastructure. Tarazaga
is also the director of the Vibrations, Adaptive Structures and
Testing Laboratory as well as the
Virginia Tech Smart Infrastructure
Laboratory.

Qiao Scholar of the Week
The Office of the Vice
President for Research
and Innovation recognized Rui Qiao as
Scholar of the Week
Qiao
for June 27-July 1.
Qiao is an associate
professor of mechanical engineer-

ing in the College of Engineering,
for his work at the frontiers of
technology.

Roop ends term at ICTAS,
rejoins ME
Roop Mahajan, the
Lewis A. Hester Chair in
Engineering ended his
two terms as director
of the Institute for
Mahajan
Critical Technology
and Applied Science
at Virginia Tech June 30. The
mechanical engineering faculty
member will now embark on a
six month sabbatical to develop
strategic collaborations.
As part of his time, Mahajan will
visit South Korea, Taiwan, Canada,
and India.
"I will continue to put forth
my best efforts to advance the
reputation and strategic goals of
the institute and Virginia Tech," he
said. "I am also looking forward
to refocusing my time and effort
on my research on nanofibers and
thermal management and sustainable solutions for developing
communities."
To read more about Mahajan's
time with ICTAS, read the entire
story at VTNews.

Tian receives EAGER grant
A National Science
Foundation EAGER
Grant of nearly
$100,000 was presented to Zhiting Tian,
Tian
assistant professor, to
study novel thermal
interface materials for microelectronics cooling. The exploratory
research is expected to bring new
perspectives on polymer-based
thin films and revolutionize the
thermal interface materials.

ME supports Engineers
Without Borders mission
to Uganda
The ME department recently
made matching funds of
$4,000 available to the Virginia
Tech Chapter of Engineers
Without Borders. The group
received a $5,000 grant from
Northrup Grumman to support
a student-led humanitarian
project in Uganda this summer

Students earn honors
Eurydice Kanimba, a doctoral
student, recently received an
ASME-Energy Sources and
Processing, Petroleum Division
academic scholarship; and
Hao Ma, a doctoral student,
were selected to attend the
Eighteenth National School on
Neutron and X-ray Scattering
July 30 - Aug. 13 at the Argonne National Laboratory and
Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Both students are under the
advisement of Zhiting Tian,
assistant professor.

Graduate student
assembly delegates
Congratulations and thanks
to Jonathan Hodges and Ali
Roghani for their work as
Graduate Student Assembly
delegates for the Mechanical
Engineering Department.

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