MOMENTUM • VIRGINIA TECH MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 9
Diana Israel , Program Support Technician , has received the Administrative Award from the Virginia Tech College of Engineering Staff Association . The award followed nominations from multiple co-workers who acknowledged Diana ’ s commitment to excellence in her work and providing exceptional support .
Jaisohn Kim , a graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Mechanical Engineering , was awarded the GTA Excellence – Assistant Award by the Virginia Tech Graduate School . Kim was recognized at an awards ceremony on March 24th .
In his role as GTA , Kim provides support for classes in numerical methods . In addition to the assistance he provides engineering students at Virginia Tech , he also creates content for a YouTube channel which currently has 213 subscribers and more than 38,000 views .
He enjoys teaching , and often adds his own review lectures to the coursework , inspired by open-source educational resources such as Khan Academy and Coursera .
Kim is finishing his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering during the Spring 2022 semester , and plans to pursue his PhD also at Virginia Tech . His research is in the field of transportation , working to fulfill the lifelong goal of fullscale autonomous vehicle implementation .
Innovation Campus Vice President and Mechanical Engineering Professor Lance Collins has joined the board of Society for Science , a nonprofit 501 ( c )( 3 ) membership organization focused on promoting the understanding and appreciation of science .
Collins came to Virginia Tech in 2020 to launch the Virginia Tech campus in the greater Washington , D . C ., area . Prior to that appointment , he served as Dean of Engineering at Cornell University .