Azim Eskandarian
Department Head
Hokies, Friends, and Support-
ers
It is my pleasure to provide
you with an introduction to the
2017 Department of Mechanical
Engineering Annual Report.
Over the last year, we have con-
tinued to provide outstanding
service to our students, to our
profession, and to our commu-
nity.
Within this report, you’ll find
a small portion of the work and
research being done by our fac-
ulty and students across our five
Thrust Areas. They are: robotics,
autonomous, and dynamical
systems; design, materials, and
manufacturing; energy engi-
neering and science; bio, micro
and nano systems; and nuclear
science and engineering.
What you can’t always see from
an article or photo is all the
people who are behind our con-
tinued success. This includes of
course, our faculty and staff, and
also our supporters, those peo-
ple without whom we could not
continue to provide the depth
and breadth of educational expe-
rience and growth opportunities
for our students, and graduates.
I invite you to take a few
moments and review the list of
those who have been so generous
to Mechanical Engineering this
year. If you are among them,
thank you very much for your
support.
Among our notable faculty
awards this year, I’m proud to
announce that Rui Qiao, Pablo
Tarazaga, and Chris Williams
joined Lei Zuo as John R. Jones
III Faculty Fellows. The Jones
Fellowship is an important rec-
ognition for our faculty and one
that provides funding for im-
portant discoveries and research.
Among our many goals as a
department is to increase the
opportunity for under-repre-
sented minorities and women
within the Mechanical Engineer-
ing field, both in the ranks of
our faculty and in our student
body. This is a long-term process
and one that benefits greatly
from the support of people who
are familiar with Virginia Tech
and recommend it to those they
come in contact with.
Outreach programs within the
department such as our part-
nership with the Virginia Tech
Science Festival, and faculty
programs such as STEMABILI-
TY, are an important part in our
efforts, and we will continue to
work toward making the depart-
ment a destination for students
and faculty who identify with
under-represented groups, and
women.
Finally, I would like to take a
moment to mention the impor-
tance of research sponsorships.
This year the department has
reached its highest level of both
sponsored research awards and
expenditures in five years. Our
faculty and students are engaged
in research and product devel-
opment for real-world projects,
which provides a tremendous
opportunity for our students to
be involved in inter-disciplinary
and collaborative efforts, and to
make connections with compa-
nies who are familiar with their
work and potential.
As we head into the 2017-2018
academic year, the future for
mechanical engineering looks
brighter than ever and I want to
thank everybody who has had a
role in the success of our de-
partment and the university, but
primarily, for the success of our
students who we work for each
and every day.
The Battery-Operated Land Trans-
port, or BOLT, electric motorcycle can
achieve speeds in excess of 150 mph.
It was designed and constructed by
undergraduate students as part of
the Mechanical Engineering Senior
Design program. Here, BOLT III is test-
ed on the Virginia Tech Transportation
Institute Smart Road, a collaborative
partner with the department.