Screenshot of an image of a drone hovering above corn stalks. The words "The future of farming" appear below.

The future of farming (VT Engineer Magazine)

Erica Corder Photo, Video, Writing Leave a Comment

The week that would change Terrie Webb’s life is one she doesn’t remember. In that week, the then-57-year-old orthodontist clinic admin from Prince George County, Virginia, was rushed from a doctor’s appointment about her swollen, purple hand straight into emergency surgery. Where her memory picks back up, she recalls being informed she’d suffered a blood clot that traveled to her …

Screenshot of photo of a woman stands in front of a window. Behind her stand tall buildings with large glass windows in a modern cityscape. The words "The woman bringing Virginia Tech's power electronics to D.C." are written over the image.

The woman bringing Virginia Tech’s power electronics to D.C. (VT Engineer Magazine)

Erica Corder Photo, Writing Leave a Comment

Electrical engineering professor Dushan Boroyevich made a point of sitting next to Christina DiMarino during a dinner in spring 2012. As the then co-director of the Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES), Boroyevich was on a recruitment mission. He saw promise in DiMarino, who’d been offered a competitive Webber Fellowship to study at Virginia Tech. There was only one problem: …

Screencap of a photo displaying a shaker table close up. The words "Shaking up a lab" are written over top of the image.

Shaking up a lab (VT Engineer Magazine)

Erica Corder Photo, Writing Leave a Comment

When you buy a mobile phone, you might not think about how far it’s traveled to get to your pocket. You might think even less about the vibrational forces that acted upon it during its journey to you. But in the Advanced Vibrations and Acoustics Lab (AVAL), founded and directed by mechanical engineering professor Pablo Tarazaga, researchers are poised to …

Screenshot of a photo in which two men pose in front of solar panels in a field. The words "The transformers" are written on top of the image.

The transformers (VT Engineer Magazine)

Erica Corder Photo, Video, Writing Leave a Comment

Rob Wallace ’00 and Walter Barnes ’00 first met the summer before their freshman year at Virginia Tech, in 1996. Ask them to tell you how, and they both laugh. “He used to rollerblade,” Barnes says. “I still rollerblade,” Wallace interjects. “I went rollerblading last night.” “He still rollerblades,” Barnes says, laughing. “Which I thought was very odd.” That first …

Screenshot of a cover image featuring Joe May and the title, which reads "Gift creates a pathway for first generation engineering students."

Gift creates a pathway for first generation engineering students (VT Engineer Magazine)

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When electrical engineering alumnus Joe T. May ’62 was in high school, he says he wasn’t exactly on a path to success. After a suspension for smoking cigarettes — something that today, May said, “wouldn’t raise an eyebrow,” but did then in the small Mennonite community he lived in — May’s principal allowed him to graduate only if he promised …

Three researchers pose in front of a screen displaying their research.

Machine-learning enables a previously-unseen look at polymers helpful in biomedical field (VT News)

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Polymers — molecules of repeating chemicals — are the basis of many materials: plastic water bottles, rubber tires, even the keratin in your hair. When certain kinds of polymers are sensitive to changes in external stimuli such as temperature, they become helpful, particularly in biomedical applications like drug delivery, tissue engineering, and gene delivery. A team of researchers led by …

Students in orange team polos smile on a stage while one woman holds a trophy.

Home of the future takes first place at international competition (VT News)

Erica Corder Photo, Social Media, Video, Writing Leave a Comment

After years of research and development contributed by over 100 Virginia Tech students and faculty, the FutureHAUS Dubai team has officially built the world’s best solar home. The lone American team earned a first-place victory over 14 other selected teams and more than 60 total entrants of the 2018 Solar Decathlon Middle East, a competition launched by the United States Department …

A screengrab of a video still featuring a young woman gesturing toward a house.

Facebook Live: Tour the FutureHAUS in Dubai

Erica Corder Social Media, Video Leave a Comment

While in Dubai covering the FutureHAUS Dubai team’s attendance at the Solar Decathlon Middle East, I hosted a Facebook Live tour of the house just before the beginning of the competition. The tour was met with enthusiasm and thousands of views, reaching over 44,000 people — far beyond the team’s followers (which, at the time, hovered under 1,000). Another Facebook …

People wearing safety vests and hard hats walk toward a trailer bearing a large portion of the house draped over with black tarp.

House of the future and team that built it head to international competition (VT News)

Erica Corder Photo, Writing Leave a Comment

The home of the future is en route to a temporary residence in the desert — and the Virginia Tech students and faculty who built it are following. FutureHAUS Dubai, an innovative, interdisciplinary, and ambitious project to design and build a futuristic, modular smart home, is the lone American team competing against 14 other university teams at the Solar Decathlon Middle …

Three researchers pose in front of a gray-stone building.

New machine learning framework could lead to breakthroughs in material design (VT News)

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Computers used to take up entire rooms. Today, a two-pound laptop can slide effortlessly into a backpack. But that wouldn’t have been possible without the creation of new, smaller processors — which are only possible with the innovation of new materials. But how do materials scientists actually invent new materials? Through experimentation, explains Sanket Deshmukh, an assistant professor in the …