24 MOMENTUM • VIRGINIA TECH MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
ALUMNI FEATURE
Darrell Roberts ‘ 89 : connecting pieces of music and nuclear engineering
Long before he was deputy executive director for operations for the U . S . Nuclear Regulatory Commission , a young Darrell Roberts ’ 89 followed a love of music to find a sense of deeper meaning and order in the world .
“ I always wanted something to do with music ,” Roberts said . “ I didn ’ t sing , and I couldn ’ t play instruments , and I wasn ’ t trained classically with music , but I knew there was something about it that I loved .”
As part of a military family , Roberts moved around a lot with his father ’ s assignments . He made new friends in each town , but music became his most consistent companion . When he relocated from Kentucky to New Jersey and back to Virginia , he was always accompanied by old friends Stevie Wonder , Earth Wind & Fire , and disco group Chic .
Roberts was 11 when he started listening to Casey Kasem ’ s American Top 40 on Sunday mornings . He started listening because Kasem played a lot of his favorite songs , but he soon discovered that there was more to the Top 40 than random music selection .
“ That kind of put things in focus ,” he said . “ I found this order of things , this ranking of songs . There was a statistical aspect that I fell in love with .”
That order clicked with his developing view of the world . As a student who excelled in math and science , order helped him understand everything from algebra to anthills . Learning how those principles applied to everyday things set him on a natural journey to engineering , and his parents helped him find his way .
The ordered journey
to nuclear engineering
When Roberts ’ father returned from Vietnam in 1969 , he and Darrell ’ s mother set their son on a path to pursue a college education , something neither of them had done .
“ My parents weren ’ t just supportive ,” said Roberts . “ It was a given that I was going to be going to college from day one . It wasn ’ t an option , it was an expectation .”
As a junior in high school , Roberts took a class tour of the North Anna Nuclear Generating Station , a power plant in Louisa County , Virginia . Observing the inner workings of the reactor and its many connected pieces was fascinating to him , and the experience would stick . When he entered Virginia Tech a year later , he set on a path to major in mechanical engineering , pursuing as much study in nuclear power as he could find .
While a student at Virginia Tech , Roberts entered a co-op program to work at the North Anna facility he had visited in high school . He worked in the maintenance engineering department , splitting his time between his studies and his work in alternating quarters .
“ When I got to Virginia Tech , it wasn ’ t easy