National Capital Region Highlights
David Trauger, honored by NCR Faculty Association as first speaker in the 'Last' Lecture Series, discusses The Great Transformation: 2001-2030
(credit: credit: Justin Davenport,
Virginia Tech)
David L. Trauger, director of the Natural Resources Program and associate dean of the Graduate School was chosen by the National Capital Region Faculty Association to give the first 'Last' Lecture of the Last Lecture Series. Trauger, who is retiring from Virginia Tech after seven years, was presented a plaque by the Faculty Association with "esteem and admiration for his dedication to graduate education and the Virginia Tech community in the National Capital Region."
The Last Lecture Series allows the speaker to choose a topic of his/her choice and present it to an open audience including current and former colleagues, alumni, and friends. Trauger spoke about The Great Transformation: 2001-2030.
David Orden, professor in the Virginia Tech Institute for Society, Culture and Environment (ISCE), joins panel on NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show
Rising food prices have become a critical global issue and world leaders are looking for solutions that will ease the crisis. David Orden joins a panel
of experts to discuss the world’s rising food prices: what’s behind the higher prices and what can be done
about it.
- Listen to the broadcast which aired on April 16, 2008.
WAAC professors and students create visionary scenarios for Annapolis in the year 2060 at charrette to address economic, ecological, and demographic pressures
What will Annapolis look like in the year 2060?
A group of Washington Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC) faculty and students were among several universities to accept the challenge of imagining - - and designing - - the answer to that question when they participated in a recent design charrette sponsored by the enVISIONing Annapolis Foundation. The WAAC team worked on long-term strategies that address how Annapolis might adapt to the many economic, ecological, and demographic pressures it is already facing.
Participating from Virginia Tech were Architecture Professors Paul Emmons (who served as the team leader) and Marcia Feuerstein, Landscape Architecture Professor Laurel McSherry, and Adjunct Professors Steven Siebert and Leo Salom. Ellen Sullivan, a Ph.D. student, graduate architecture students Lesley Golenor, Matthew Valentine, Josh Housdan, and Beth Barrett, undergraduate architecture student Michael Ford and undergraduate landscape architecture student Ryan Catlett...
Graduate students from Virginia Tech National Capital Region and George Mason University team up on local environmental community service project to support The Big Event 2008
The Big Event, Virginia Tech’s largest community service project, is held each spring in Blacksburg. Students come together on this day to say thanks to surrounding communities in the area for being a gracious host to the university for nine months out of the year and for their continuous support. For the first time this year, the National Capital Region Graduate Student Assembly (GSA) put a local twist on The Big Event. Virginia Tech graduate students teamed up with graduate students from nearby George Mason University to work on a community service project to benefit the northern Virginia community...
National Capital Region Remembers April 16, 2007
(credit: Photo by Justin Davenport)
A moving harp solo by Virginia Tech National Capital Region alumnus Christine Van Dyke, melodic tolling bells, and a moment of silence set a somber, yet hopeful tone as faculty, staff, students, and alumni gathered at the Northern Virginia Center (NVC) in Falls Church for the dedication of a bronze plaque mounted on Hokie Stone. The plaque marks the site of a bench, also made from Hokie Stone, and a Japanese maple tree dedicated last summer in honor of those who lost their lives on April 16, 2007.
“This small site gives us a place where we can come to reflect and remember that while spring has been a time of great tragedy in our community, it is also a time of replenishment, beauty, and hope,” said Jim Bohland, vice president and executive director of National Capital Region Operations...
National Capital Region Alumni Association kicks off VirginiaTechforLife nationwide blood drive program in Alexandria; second drive scheduled April 16 at Northern Virginia Center
WAAC students Jeff Gowen
and Keri Kennedy
The National Capital Region Virginia Tech Alumni Association kicked off the VirginiaTechforLife campaign at the local office of the American Red Cross in Old Town Alexandria on April 1. This was the first of more than 30 blood drives sponsored by Virginia Tech alumni chapters across the country during the month of April,
A second blood drive, at the Northern Virginia Center, 7054 Haycock Road, will be held on April 16, from 2 to 8 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome, but appointments
are preferred. To set up an appointment to donate call:
1 800-GIVE LIFE...
NCR graduate students Vidhya Dass and Elizabeth Brennan take spotlight in Washington Post Metro section on Saturday, March 29, for offering futuristic alternatives to traditional peak cherry blossom forecasts
(credit: Lois Raimondo - The Washington Post)
Using computer modeling/artificial intelligence they learned in a class taught by Chang-Tien Liu, assistant professor, Computer Science, Dass
and Brennan worked with Rob DeFeo, National Park Service chief horticulturist, who, for 16 years, has been consulting nature to determine when
the cherry blossoms will bloom in Washington....
Cargo honored with meritorious service award from ODK and invited to speak at celebration of newly named Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation at ASU
(credit: Felipe Ruiz,
Arizona State University)
Russ Cargo, director of the Nonprofit and Civil Society Program in the Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance (IPG), National Capital Region, has garnered recognition among his peers in the field of philanthropy and nonprofit leadership both through his work at Virginia Tech and his role as president of the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC).
Cargo was recently awarded the Eldridge W. Roark, Jr., Meritorious Service Award at the 2008 Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) Society, Inc., National Leadership Summit and Convention held in Atlanta. The honor recognizes his work as director of the organization’s signature leadership development program, Campus Leaders Today, Community Leaders Tomorrow (CLT2) since its inception in 2004...
Three WAAC students design finalist entry for Washington Post Peeps contest
(credit: Photo by Matt Valentine)
"Peeps Atop a Skyscraper (c. 1932)", a diorama designed by three Virginia Tech Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC) students -- Lesley Golenor, Jenn Seiss, and Matt Valentine Peeps - is a finalist in The Washington Post Peeps Show II contest.
Thirty-seven dioramas made with Marshmallow Peeps were chosen as finalists from more than 800 entries sent to the Post for the second annual competition...
Fun With Physics draws crowd of all ages at Northern Virginia Center
Nearly 200 enthusiastic visitors, ranging from primary school age students to retired Virginia Tech alumni, gathered at the Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church recently for Fun with Physics, a family-friendly afternoon event designed to prove that science can be fun, fascinating, and exciting. The event was sponsored by Virginia Tech's Department of Physics and the College of Science.
Students from the Physics Outreach Team, equipped with dozens of hands-on demonstrations and physics-related toys, introduced some intriguing phenomena. Optical illusions showed coins in the wrong place, and metal rings were tossed high in the air by the effects of electromagnetic induction...
Two grants awarded to Advanced Research Institute to study smart grid
The U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Defense Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program have both awarded grants to the Advanced Research Institute, Virginia Tech, National Capital Region, to build simulation-based models of an Intelligent Distributed Autonomous Power System (IDAPS) microgrid. Components of an IDAPS microgrid include distributed energy resources (DERs), grid interfaces, distribution circuits, customer loads, and an IP-addressable control architecture that represents the decision support system of the smart grid...
Traveling exhibit honoring life of civil rights champion and educator, Mary Ellen Henderson, runs through March 1 at Northern Virginia Center
(credit: Photo by Justin Davenport)
In celebration of Black History Month, Virginia Tech's Northern Virginia Center(NVC) is hosting A Radiant Spirit: the Journey of Mary Ellen Henderson, a traveling exhibit honoring local area civil rights champion and educator, Mary Ellen Henderson.
Henderson, a long-time Falls Church resident and educator, worked tirelessly as teacher, principal, and social activist to achieve equal rights for African Americans. She was a beloved teacher and principal of the Falls Church Colored School for 31 years. On September 18, 2005, the Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School in Falls Church, was named in her honor on what would have been her 120th birthday...
CPAP student Beth Offenbacker receives prestigious award from American Society of Public Administration
Beth Offenbacker
Beth Offenbacker, a Ph.D. student in the School of Public Administration and Policy (CPAP), Virginia Tech, National Capital Region, has been awarded the prestigious 2008 James E. Webb Award by the American Society of Public Administration (ASPA) for presenting the most outstanding paper at the organization's 2007 annual conference.
Offenbacker's presentation, "New Zealand Local Government: Creating a Meaningful Connection Between Participatory Budgeting and Performance Budgeting," was chosen for the award from among all papers presented at the annual ASPA conference...
CPAP honors Distinguished Professor John Rohr at reception in Alexandria
CPAP student Emily Cuykendall
greets Prof. Rohr as he arrives
at CPAP, Alexandria
John Rohr, Distinguished Professor, Center for Public Administration and Policy (CPAP), was honored recently at Virginia Tech's Alexandria campus on the occasion of his impending retirement from the university after 29 years of service. Recent Ph.D. graduates Gail Ledford, and Anne Simeone, current Ph.D.students James Meutzel, John O'Brien, and Beth Offenbacker, Visiting Professor Colleen Woodward, and Melony Price-Rhodes, project director, Institute for Public Policy and Governance, made special presentations for Professor Rohr before nearly 50 CPAP students, faculty, staff, and friends...
Washington Alexandria Architecture Center hosts president of Bahcesehir University
(Left to right) Jaan Holt, director, Washington Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC) in the School of Architecture + Design, Virginia Tech, National Capital Region, Deniz Ülke Aribogan, president, Bahcesehir University, Turkey, Kaan Okten, vice rector, Bahcesehir University, and Jack Davis, dean, College of Architecture and Urban Studies toured the college's facilities in Alexandria recently, following Ülke Aribogan's guest lecture on Fighting Terrorism not Terrorists: Turkey and the PKK...
Cargo invited to speak at Mandel Center dedication
Russell Cargo
Russell Cargo, director, Nonprofit and Civil Society Program, Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance (IPG), was an invited speaker at the recent dedication of the Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations on the Case Western Reserve University campus, Cleveland, Ohio. One of the first nonprofit academic centers in the country, the Mandel Center is now the first to be housed in its own building.
"In so many ways, the Mandel Center has been a leading contributor both to the remarkable growth and recognition of the nonprofit sector and to the development of nonprofit management as an academic discipline," said Cargo...
Michael Badawy chairs only National Academy of Management Session web cast globally
Michael Badawy
Michael Badawy, professor, Management of Technology and Strategic Management, Pamplin College of Business, National Capital Region, recently organized and chaired an "All Academy Show Case Session," at the Annual National Academy of Management conference recently held in Philadelphia. The session title was How Can Business Schools Do Well by Doing Good? An Action Agenda for Refocusing Business Education. Badawy's session was the only one chosen by the National Academy Program Committee to be web cast live and globally a first in the Academy's 70-year history...
Virginia Tech Board of Visitors benefits from George Nolen's business and leadership acumen, serves on Finance and Audit Committee
George Nolen
What do New York City, northern Virginia, and Blacksburg have in common?
They are all considered home to Board of Visitors member George Nolen. And for good reason.
As president and chief executive officer of Siemens Corporation, Nolen divides his time between New York City and Reston, Virginia. But, he says, there is a third place where he always feels at home and that is Blacksburg. "Blacksburg and Virginia Tech provide a strong centerpiece for my family," Nolen says.
Nolen, one of seven children, grew up in the Washington D.C. area...
Virginia Tech, Hannon Armstrong, and Pepco Energy Services have launched an Energy Efficiency Partnership aimed at 'greeting' Greater Washington D.C.
President Charles W. Steger, launching
the Energy Efficiency Parternship
Energy efficiency financier Hannon Armstrong has committed $500 million over the next five years for retrofits that will decrease energy use and significantly cut carbon emissions...
Alumnus Mike Anzilotti serves on Board of Visitors, focuses on university goals to achieve diversity and promote Hokies Respect
Mike Anzilotti
Hokie Spirit is something that Michael Anzilotti, president of Virginia Commerce Bancorp Inc., and member of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, knows a lot about - from personal experience.
He will proudly tell you he is a graduate of Virginia Tech, as are his two children, and his daughter-in-law. And one day he hopes to boast that his four grandchildren are graduates of the university, too. "They're young, but we're already dressing them up in Hokie attire," he quips.
Anzilotti has been an active alumnus since earning an undergraduate degree from the Pamplin School of Business in 1971...
Dedication drives Shelley Duke's commitment to Virginia Tech, serves on Board of Visitors and EMC Council
Shelley Duke
Native Californian Shelley Duke found her way to Virginia Tech more than two decades ago via the Marion DuPont Scott Equine Medical Center (EMC) in Leesburg, one of the three campuses of the Virginia -Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM). Duke, owner and manager of Rallywood Farms for the past 12 years, entrusted her horses' care to veterinarians at the EMC, and ultimately, became a major supporter of and advocate for the Center. Former EMC director, Dr. Frederick Fregin asked Duke to launch a volunteer program for the EMC hospital. The success of that program led her to an appointment on the VMRCVM Advisory Committee, and an introduction to the Blacksburg campus, which she embraced wholeheartedly. She was appointed to the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors by Governor Mark Warner in 2005...
The Hope Project launched to serve disabled veterans with traumatic brain injury and their families
Talbot and Callahan
Recently, a dedicated group of elected officials, educators, and health and human services agency representatives from the national capital region gathered at Virginia Tech's Northern Virginia Center (NVC) in Falls Church, Virginia, to kick off The Hope Project. This project will serve disabled veterans with traumatic brain injury and their families. The project is a result of the unwavering efforts of Marianne Talbot, Ph.D., a recent graduate of Virginia Tech's Human Development program and president of the National Rehabilitation and Rediscovery Foundation, Inc., (NRRF), the lead agency for The Hope Project...
Toal's research in war-torn Bosnia featured in Virginia Tech Research magazine
Michael Badawy
Gerard Toal, professor of Government and International Affairs, and Director of Virginia Tech's Master of Public and International Affairs Program in the National Capital Region, studies war and the roadblocks to recovery in Bosnia as local, national, and international agencies try to cope with disruptions to people, economies, and environments.
His story appears in the latest issue of Virginia Tech Research magazine...