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Alumnus Nick Des Champs and wife Rebecca Des Champs of Las Vegas, Nevada have donated $2 million to establish a faculty chair in the Department of Mechanical Engineering within Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering. Des Champs' gift creates a generous fund under the direction of Azim Eskandarian, who now holds the designation of Nicholas and Rebecca Des Champs Chair in Mechanical Engineering. "I am humbled, honored, and thankful to have received this professorship as the department head of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech. On behalf of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and myself, I would like to express our deepest appreciation to Nick Des Champs, Becky Des Champs, and their family for this generous gift and the opportunities it creates for our...

Two National Science Foundation grants of approximately $1.5 million, awarded to Virginia Tech researchers, will bring robotics and technology assistance to one of the largest groups of workers in Virginia. The research goal is to combine technologies to provide physical safety and enhance quality of life for Virginia farmers. The first project partners with industry to use robotics to aid farmers with mobility impairments. The Partnership for Innovation grant is a collaborative effort between Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and with community partners, AgrAbility Virginia, a program that assists farmers with illnesses, injuries, or disabilities that are impeding their ability to work safely, effectively, and productively. The research will aid farmers through the use...

Zhiting Tian, assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the College of Engineering, has received an Office of Naval Research (ONR) 2018 Young Investigator award to study enhancing thermal transport at solid-solid interfaces. In addition to the ONR award, Tian has also received a 2017 National Science Foundation CAREER award, the 2017 American Chemistry Society Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Award, the 2017 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, and the 2017 College of Engineering Dean’s Award for Outstanding New Assistant Professor. Click here to learn more....

For years, the International Humanitarian Capstone Design program has brought undergraduates in mechanical engineering and other fields to countries in Africa and Latin America. Students have designed well-pumping systems, neonatal incubators, and other community-driven projects capable of being sustainably built and maintained locally for years to come. Call it Virginia Tech’s not-so-secret formula–through transformative research and teaching opportunities, Hokies can be a force for positive change in communities around the world while opening up new possibilities and capabilities within themselves. Click here to learn more....

A Virginia Tech mechanical engineering professor and his team have been invited by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF, to be among the first to use a new humanitarian drone testing corridor opened by the government of Malawi and the aid agency. The team will test a new autonomous drone designed to fly to remote locations and collect dried blood samples for HIV testing. Kevin Kochersberger, an associate professor of mechanical engineering in the College of Engineering, is an advisor to senior design project teams working with hospitals and communities in Malawi. Kochersberger and several of his students will travel to Malawi Nov. 4-12 and test EcoSoar, a drone designed and built by his Unmanned Systems Laboratory. EcoSoar was originally developed for a company called...