Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 4 No. 1 Spring 2019 | Page 4

04
AZIMESKANDARIAN
NICHOLAS AND REBECCA DES CHAMPS PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT HEAD, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Welcome back to the most exciting part of the year! The point
between the holidays and graduation is filled with excitement as
our students prepare their senior design projects, their competition
vehicles, and for the seniors, their resumes as they prepare to join
the world as mechanical engineers and leaders in their field. These
few months are often a tense, stay-up-late, around-the-clock work
to the end of the semester.
Also exciting is watching our students and faculty win awards,
get their research published, and work in the spirit of Ut Prosim to
help others.
In this issue, our cover story looks at the work of one of our
creative faculty, Dr. Xiaoyu 'Rayne' Zheng, who was recently
published in one of the most influential journals in his field - Na-
ture Materials. Rayne also received an award from the Journal of
Materials Research.
A veteran faculty member, Dr. Wing Ng received great news
to kick off the new year, being elected a Fellow of the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was joined by two
other current faculty in Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, and by
an ME graduate in this honor.
Not all of our students wait until their senior year to make a
difference. Last year a new QL+ student group started, and they
are making a difference in the lives of people in the New River
Valley. These students aren't doing this to receive credit for their
work - they are doing it because they love engineering challenges,
and they love to help others. They are a great group of Hokies, and I
hope you take a moment to learn about them.
This month, March 19-20, Virginia Tech will take part in the
2nd annual Giving Day. Despite the name, the goal of the day is to
get people involved and so the goal is to encourage 5,500 Hokies
to pledge as little as $5. Last year more than 4,800 took part and
through their gifts we raised some funds directly for Mechanical
Engineering. Please see what we did with your donations in this
issue. Also, click a link to become an Ambassador to giving day - it
doesn't cost anything but a little time to reach out and encourage
others to share their love of Virginia Tech.