The Materials Science and Engineering Department, in continuing efforts to increase its effectiveness and stature among peer departments and institutions, has compiled a list of current needs. The items included are requirements that the Department has identified as necessary to improve the execution of its mission to educate through quality teaching and world-class research. Toward this end, we welcome assistance at any level and in any form. Assistance can be coordinated through the College of Engineering’s Development Office, or through direct contact with the Head of the MSE Department. We believe that the educational goals that drive these needs will serve the broad interests of our many and varied constituencies – including present students, alumni, the employers of our graduates, the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and society as a whole.

MSE Department Development Needs

• Special Conference Travel for Students: Conferences on specific focused topics are held periodically to attract researchers from around the world. These conferences are generally separate from annual professional society meetings, and they are terrific opportunities for students to meet and talk with many experts doing specialized research. Although the University has foundation money to send faculty to international conferences of this type, these funds are not available for conferences held in this country nor are they used to send students to conferences. ballpark cost: $5,000 per year
  
  
• Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award: Over the last few decades, the MSE Department has not done a good job of staying connected with its alumni. Past graduates of the department can be a valuable resource to the department by helping to plan curriculum and research directions, and by providing students with information about careers. A Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award with an accompanying dinner could provide a mechanism to bring alumni back to the department for well-deserved recognition. ballpark cost: $7,500 per year
  
  
• Summer Research Experience: One of the most effective strategies for recruiting students to the MSE Department is providing them with an opportunity to work in a lab over the summer. Students who could benefit from this experience include high school students uncertain about what to do in college, freshmen uncertain about which major to choose, or promising students considering graduate school in MSE. Students for the program could be selected based upon criteria like financial need or academic background. To establish a stable summer program for several students, funds are needed to support student housing. ballpark cost: $15,000 per year
  
  
• Program Enrichment Fund: For supporting program priorities, innovation, and critical needs. This fund provides a mechanism to pool smaller donations. desired balance $20,000
  
  
• Student Competition: A substantial challenge can bring out the best in students. A competition involving a technical development (producing a material with record-setting properties, an improved device or process, writing the best technical paper, etc.) with a significant prize could generate substantial interest and publicity among students. ballpark cost: $20,000 per year to fund the prize and development costs
  
  
• Discretionary Scholarships: These are used to attract good students to the department, reward excellent performance, assist students in financial need, and attract students with different backgrounds to diversify the student population. cost: $25,000/yr
  
  
• Distinguished Speaker Series: Hearing new ideas and meeting bright people are come of the unique educational opportunities a university education can provide. We have a departmental colloquium series that invites several researchers to the department each semester, but bringing the brightest people to campus will require more than just travel expenses. The types of speakers we envision inviting are members of the National Academies, Nobel laureates, inventors, entrepreneurs -- in short, notable people with the insight to excite and inspire students. ballpark cost: $25,000-50,000 spent out over several years
  
  
• Visiting Research Fellowship: A fellowship of this type would be used to bring a researcher or faculty member from a national laboratory or a university to Virginia Tech for either one or two semesters. Such a person could be invited to help establish new research direction in the department, to augment research programs already underway, or help with the department's teaching. ballpark cost: $50,000 per 2-year period
  
  
• Entrepreneurial Practice: A number of universities have programs of that provide students with opportunities to innovate and set up the nucleus of a company. These programs provide students with exposure to some of the complexities of starting a business: product development, company financing, personnel, and marketing. A small-scale entrepreneurial lab could be started within the MSE department built around a material process or product. ballpark cost: $50,000 per year
  
  
• Endowed Graduate Fellowship: These days, graduate education must be self-supporting. Few students can afford the direct costs of a graduate degree or the cost of forfeited earnings when they leave the workforce. Consequently, almost all MSE graduate students are supported on faculty research grants or contracts. Unfortunately, these sources of support are unpredictable. One or more endowed graduate fellowships would greatly assist the department in recruiting the best available graduate students. cost: $200,000
  
  
• Named Laboratory: This ranges from replacing outdated equipment (as members of the advisory board did a few years ago in the metallography lab), to constructing a dedicated lab. A specialized lab could, for example, provide a specific educational opportunity in metalcasting or glassmaking. A specialized facility of this type would both serve Virginia Tech students and provide continuing education opportunities for people working in the industry. ballpark cost: $75,000-500,000
  
  
• Endowed Professorship: An Endowed Professorship is used to recruit outstanding faculty to the department and to provide a faculty member with discretionary funds for organizing conferences, supporting students, buying equipment, or hiring specialized instrument technicians. Endowed Professorships are distributed by the College of Engineering, and none are currently held by MSE faculty. Naturally, if an Endowed Professorship is to be useful to MSE, it would need to be targeted specifically toward the MSE Department. The top MSE departments get to be the top, in part, by using endowed positions to hire the best faculty; this approach is somewhat like the NY Yankee's strategy for building winning baseball teams. cost: $1M
  
  
• Endowed Chair: The most prestigious academic distinction, an endowed chair attracts the type of academic talent capable of creating new resources; generating knowledge to serve as a magnet for high-tech, knowledge-based industries; and drawing promising young faculty members and highly capable graduate students. cost: $1.5M
  
  
• Equipment Trust: Specialized instrumentation is often needed to do the kind of research that attracts state or federal sponsorship. Instrumentation of this type can cost as much as $2M and is usually purchased by pooling resources. A Research Equipment Trust can provide cost-sharing funds to leverage other resources. An equipment trust also provides funds to maintain the equipment, a need that is not addressed with current operating funds. Present high-priority needs include a modern analytical transmission electron microscope, and a dual focused ion beam machine. Equipment Trust cost: $5M
  
  
• Endowed Department: Endowing, or naming, a department provides the funds to enable new directions of inquiry and education. It stabilizes existing programs and creates the ability to respond to new technologies. estimated cost: $5M
  
  
  Visit the College of Engineering Development Office website
  Contact: MSE Department Head