Virginia Tech’s Graduate Engineering Program Goes Nuclear

What does nuclear mean to you? For Virginia Tech, nuclear means the future.

Currently Virginia Tech’s graduate engineering program is ranked 33rd in the nation, according to the 2008 U.S. News and World Reports on America’s Best Graduate Schools. However, new additions to the engineering program may strategically place Virginia Tech ahead of other schools

The great news for engineering graduates is that a Virginia Tech Master’s of Engineering Degree in Mechanical Engineering with a Nuclear Certificate will soon be available. Earning a nuclear certificate requires completing 30 credit hours in which further information is available on the mechanical engineering website.

Nuclear programs have disappeared across the nation in past years but a revival for nuclear programs is on the rise. Head of the mechanical engineering department, Ken Ball said that we are in a so called “Nuclear Renaissance” and is excited that “we are at the forefront.”

While the certificate is still awaiting approval, courses are already being offered. Engineers who are interested in signing up for these courses need to do so immediately because seats fill quickly.

The courses that were offered in the fall of 2007 and the spring of 2008 have exceeded expectations with classes of approximately 20 to 40 students according to Mark Pierson, professor of the mechanical engineering department. This semester three courses are being taught and more courses are to come in the following semesters.

Virginia Tech and the new program work with a number of organizations such as AREVA NP Inc., Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Southeast Universities Nuclear Reactors Institute for Science and Education (SUNRISE), Dominion Virginia Power, the Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program (CGEP), and a number of others.

Mark Pierson said that organizations such as AREVA, the nearest location is in Lynchburg, partnered with Virginia Tech because “they cannot hire enough graduate students” and they want to further educate their employees as well. One benefit of Virginia Tech’s partnerships is that graduate students have the opportunity to take part in research efforts with companies such as AREVA.

Eugene Brown of the mechanical engineering department said that Tech also has a “close relationship with Wake Forest University, the Materials, Engineering, Mathematics, and Science Departments” of Virginia Tech.

Richard C. Benson the Dean of Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering said the overall goal of the program will hopefully result in a successful program that will lead to an interdisciplinary program.

Although the program was not initially created to make Virginia Tech more attractive to graduate students, this program will defiantly draw in more students.

For more information about the program contact Mark Pierson at mark.pierson@vt.edu or Eugene Brown at efbrown@vt.edu.