Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 4 No. 2 Summer 2019 | Page 21

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computer-aided design/interactive computer
graphics and mathematical geometric surface
modeling for aircraft.
Michael Fleming
BSME, 2002; MSME, 2003
As the Chief Executive Officer and
Co-Founder of Torc Robotics, Michael Flem-
ing has positioned his company as a leading
provider of self-driving solutions.
Starting in 2005 in Blacksburg as a student
start-up, Torc developed the self-driving tech-
nology for team Victor Tango in the DARPA
Urban Challenge. Since its top-three finish
in this historic self-driving race, Fleming has
overseen Torc's rapid and organic growth
to more than 100 employees, along with the
commercialization of self-driving technology
into trucking, mobility, mining, and defense
applications through OEM partnerships.
Since leaving Blacksburg, Jayaram has
started three companies, including Voke, a
virtual reality experience company which
was purchased by Intel in 2016. She currently
leads a vibrant engineering team at Intel and
has brought her experience and expertise to
providing cutting-edge immersive experiences
for sporting events and leagues such as the
2018 Winter Olympics, NFL, NBA, NCAA
and MLB.
Edward Nelson
BSME, 1990; MSME, 1992; PhD, 1994
In 1991 Edward Nelson worked at NASA's
Ames Research Center in the area of exper-
imental infrared radiation heat transfer and
from 1996-1999 for a company in the Corpo-
rate Research Center working on Naval Air
Warfare Research Center studying heat flux
of solid rocket plumes.
Uma Jayaram
MSME, 1987; PhD, 1991
The first woman officially admitted to the
Indian Institute of Technology's Mechanical
Engineering program at IIT Kharagpur,
Uma Jayaram completed her master's degree
at Virginia Tech working on hypersonic jet
inlets before earning her doctoral degree in
Beginning in 1999, Nelson worked at
Virginia Tech, first in Continuing and Profes-
sional Education and since 2005 as the Associ-
ate Dean for Administration and Chief of Staff
of the College of Engineering. In this role he
has most recently been devoted to planning
the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in
Alexandria, and the Holden Hall expansion
which is set to begin in the summer of 2019.