LETTER FROM THE DEPARTMENT HEAD
Welcome friends, alumni and all
those who help support our Hokie
engineers through their support,
philanthropy, and time.
The 2018 annual report you hold now
represents another year of growth
for the Department of Mechanical
Engineering at Virginia Tech. Our
faculty has grown to include more
than 65 full-time professors, and we
are supported by 27 affiliate faculty
members, adjunct professors, as
well as many graduate teaching
assistants. In all we serve more than
1,100 undergraduate and 300 graduate
students, making us one of the largest
departments on campus and one of
the larger mechanical engineering
departments in the country.
As we have for the last few years,
we’ve included a list of our many
supporters this year. I cannot overstate
how important the support of alumni
and friends of the department is for
our continued success and growth. As
a testament to the faith our alumni
place in our department, the new
Nicholas and Rebecca Des Champs
Chair in Mechanical Engineering was
established by the Des Champs family,
extending Nick Des Champs legacy
as a very successful engineer and
entrepreneur. Nick was a member of our
first doctoral ME class and the work of
his family over the years in support of
the department has been unwavering.
This year I am also pleased to
announce that Professor Michael
von Spakovsky has been named the
Robert E. Hord Jr. Professor. Michael
is one of or foremost researchers; an
internationally-renown pioneer of
thermodynamics, and an exceptional
choice for the Hord Professorship.
This year we also had the good
fortune to add eight new faculty to
our growing cadre of researchers.
Five members join us as assistant
professors: Oumar Barry from
Central Michigan University; Kaveh
Akbari Hamed from San Diego State
University; Erik Komendera from
NASA Langley; Juliana Duarte from
the University of Wisconsin-Madison;
and John Palmore Jr. from Cornell
University. Also joining us is Assistant
Professor of Practice Ry Long who
has had industry experience with
Bombardier Aerospace and Pratt &
Whitney Canada, and comes to us
from Central Michigan University.
Two more colleagues will join us in
the Spring Semester.
As we move into the 2018-2019
academic year, we are riding a wave of
success. Academic success, funding
success, hiring and diversity success,
and above all, success in educating
the nation’s finest young mechanical
engineers. I invite you to read about our
progress in this annual report.
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