INNOVATION CAMPUS
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The Next Generation We are in a digital revolution that is changing the way we live, work, and think. The very essence of what it means to be human is evolving in a world where machines perform tasks that have long been associated with people — a world where injured people are increasingly made whole through technology, such as smart prosthetics or brain implants that restore motor and speech capacity. We need a new kind of teaching — a new approach to graduate education — to prepare the next generation of leaders to solve problems in that world. Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus is our opportunity to lead — regionally, nationally, globally — while also achieving the commonwealth’s commitment to double the tech-talent pipeline, a goal set forth in the proposal that attracted Amazon to Northern Virginia.
Our new campus in Alexandria will be a global center for technology and talent — where highly skilled students, world-class faculty, forward-thinking companies, and smart ideas connect to propel the commonwealth and the Washington, D.C., region forward.” — Tim Sands, since becoming the Virginia Tech president in 2014, has positioned the university to expand on its land-grant mission in the greater Washington, D.C., metro area. As a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the holder of 20 patents in electronic and optoelectronic materials and devices, Sands understands the synergy of education, research, and commercialization.
VIRGINIA TECH AND THE INNOVATION CAMPUS Combining our strengths in STEM with a strategic location near the nation’s capital and leading tech companies, the Innovation Campus will address society’s most pressing challenges while educating technology pioneers to drive prosperity for the next generation. As a land-grant university for the 21st century, Virginia Tech is perfectly positioned to deliver on this promise. Our heritage as the commonwealth’s leading research land-grant institution and presence throughout Virginia’s urban and rural communities, combined with our size and strength in key technical domains, uniquely equip us to lead the transformation. The university was ready to expand its presence in the D.C. area even before Amazon HQ2, though the search giant’s selection of Northern Virginia accelerated the university’s plans to partner with the commonwealth in a commitment to double the tech-talent pipeline. Virginia Tech will enrich the regional economy, expand the pool of tech talent, and usher ideas from discovery to commercialization.
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We’ve been missing a crucial ingredient in the business ecosystem, and that is a worldclass computer science program that graduates people who can both enter the workforce and do research. We need people in scale — not just dozens, but hundreds of people per year — coming out of an institution, which makes a difference in the economy.” — Sanju Bansal has lived in, invested in, and developed the D.C. metro area’s business ecosystem for about 25 years. The founder and CEO of Hunch Analytics, Bansal co-founded MicroStrategy, an early player in big data storage and analytics, and served as the company’s COO from 1993 to 2012. He’s invested in about 30 software businesses, sits on the boards of six companies, consults with growing companies, and coaches CEOs.
THE FACULTY AND THE IMPACT Virginia Tech faculty experts and partners will assemble around big ideas and broad themes to explore the increasingly blurred boundaries between humans, computers, and systems. Our human-centered approach to technological innovation means that the set of potential impact areas for the Innovation Campus are boundless. Digital technology increasingly influences nearly every aspect of our lives: how we work, play, communicate, learn, relax, recover, move, relate, protect, defend, explore, manage, and understand. The list of potential impact areas is vast: transportation, autonomy, manufacturing, energy, education, communication, health care, government, business and finance, equity and access, the urban/rural divide, and many more. The pervasiveness and potential of technology — for both good and ill — means that the work of the Innovation
Campus and the students trained here are critically important to the region, nation, and world. The campus will be in a leadership position to define the new questions and challenges that emerge as new technology impacts a changing world. At the Innovation Campus, technical domains will sit at the human-computing frontier and include artificial intelligence, machine-learning, cybersecurity, data science and analytics, internet of things, cyber-human systems, computing systems and networks at scale, distributed and cloud systems, high-performance computing, and humancomputer interaction. Adjacent programs will include those at the intersection of humans, technology, policy, regulation, and ethics.
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As interactive technologies evolve at an increasingly rapid pace, the next several decades of innovation and policy are absolutely critical in defining the human-technology relationship. It is imperative that we bring together a cross-disciplinary team to ensure that humans can shape technology to meet human needs, rather than allowing technology to define our lives as humans. The Innovation Campus is the place — the destination where we have the opportunity to craft a humancentered future for current and emerging technologies.” —Doug Bowman is the Frank J. Maher Professor of Computer Science and the director of the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech. He is also the principal investigator of the 3D Interaction Group, focusing on 3D user interface design and the benefits of immersion in virtual environments.
The emergence of the Innovation Campus will accelerate our ability to define and refine the technologies of tomorrow. Across its portfolio and its locations, Virginia Tech has model research partnerships and programs, such as:
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Virginia Tech’s Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, an FAA-designated drone test site, has collaborated with Project Wing — and in October 2019, played a key role in the nation’s first commercial drone deliveries.
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Block.one, a global leader in blockchain and publisher of the EOSIO blockchain software, has partnered with Virginia Tech to help students build skills in blockchain and develop a regional blockchain hub.
A test bed for 5G wireless connectivity is a flagship project of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, a statewide collaboration led by Virginia Tech that will accelerate the innovation and commercialization of cyber technologies and deepen the talent pool in Virginia.
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The FutureHAUS team won first place at the 2018 Solar Decathlon Middle East, a global competition to accelerate research on building sustainable, gridconnected, solar homes. In the Smart Farm Innovation Network, Virginia Tech researchers and Virginia Cooperative Extension specialists are partnering with producers and the commercial sector to deploy interconnected technologies to increase the efficiency, resilience, and sustainability of agricultural and natural resources production systems.
The Virginia Smart Roads are state-of-the-art, closed research facilities managed by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The 5G test bed is expected to transform the communications and cyber landscape. As industries such as shipping, transportation, health care, energy, and national security continue to evolve, they will all need seamless and secure connectivity on networks that can handle vast numbers of connections. Via the test bed, Virginia’s universities and experts will be among the first in the country with unparalleled access to 5G equipment, which they’ll use to focus on security research to ensure that 5G operates smoothly and for the common good.
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Virginia Tech is already at the forefront of scientific innovation. This investment by Virginia Tech and the state will help us attract top faculty and students from around the world, launch research initiatives, and provide a new sandbox for us to collaborate with government and industry.” — Naren Ramakrishnan is the Thomas L. Phillips Professor of Engineering and director of Virginia Tech’s Discovery Analytics Center. The center, offering a unique case study into the human-centered approach of the Innovation Campus, brings together researchers from diverse disciplines to analyze massive datasets and make real-world insights into practical problems in such areas as public health, sustainability, and urban science.
THE ACADEMICS
At scale, the Innovation Campus will graduate 750 master’s degree students per year and more than 100 doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows. Meanwhile, the inaugural cohort of Innovation Fellows — 10 Virginia Tech graduate students — is advising university leadership as the campus is developed.
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The idea of a ‘nontraditional campus’ with a focus on practical problems and innovative solutions is really appealing to me. The idea of a campus acting as an incubator for fostering ideas and partnering with private companies is a culmination of everything I have pursued in my own career. I believe this campus is poised to both create a new workforce but also raise the bar in terms of standards for the federal government by retaining talent in the area, where policy can become law.” —Ronald “Angel” Cox, a member of the inaugural cohort of Innovation Fellows, is pursuing a master’s in information technology at Virginia Tech. Cox, who holds a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, said the problem he’d most like to solve would be to store health care data in a centralized place so that people could access their data throughout their lives.
Education at the Innovation Campus will be characterized by flexible formats organized around broad themes, e.g., human-computing frontier; industry-influenced curricula and living laboratories in surrounding communities; and experiential opportunities for Blacksburg-based undergraduates. Four master’s degree programs — two in computer science and two in computer engineering — will be among the first to be offered at the Innovation Campus in the near term. Both the computer science and computer engineering graduate programs span the Blacksburg campus and Northern Virginia facilities. •
The master of science degree in computer science offers specializations in such topics as internet and mobile software development, human-computer interaction, data analytics and machine learning, computer security, and artificial intelligence. The program is a natural stepping stone to the Ph.D. program and emphasizes a student’s ability to thrive as a research-track graduate student.
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The master of engineering degree in computer science focuses on software development with an emphasis on entrepreneurial, team-based learning. Supplying strong technical training, the track is best suited for students entering the computing profession. It seeks to bring a wider group of people into the computing field at the graduate level.
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The master of science in computer engineering involves deep study in specific areas of the discipline and is ideal preparation for further research. This program culminates in a thesis, presenting the results of independent research conducted by the student under close supervision of a faculty advisor.
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The master of engineering in computer engineering offers graduate students a strong academic foundation in core technological areas with a culminating project-based learning experience, preparing students to advance their professional careers.
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I’m very excited to join Virginia Tech to help launch the Innovation Campus and the new master’s program in computer science that will close the talent gap by training students who want to accelerate career advancement and helping employers who have the need for this talent.” —Sara Hooshangi, one of the first faculty hires for the Innovation Campus, will start in January as the director for the new master of engineering in computer science program. The program will prepare graduates with the knowledge and skills needed for mid-level and advanced positions in the tech industry. Hooshangi comes from George Washington University, where she was the founding director of an interdisciplinary degree completion program with a focus on information technology, business, and data analytics.
The Opportunities As the four master’s degree programs in computer science and computer engineering grow, Virginia Tech will continue developing robust doctoral-level programs and experiential learning opportunities for undergraduate students. In Blacksburg, Virginia Tech is expanding its computer science undergraduate students by 2,000, while also
infusing technology and data analytics across the academic spectrum. And in the Calhoun Discovery Program in the Honors College, we are reimagining the educational model: Students are interacting with industry partners and embedded faculty members from such companies as Boeing, tackling data sets and real-world problems.
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We will accelerate the integration of datadriven technologies into our curricula to expand computer science across all disciplines in the College of Engineering. We are also defining pathways to engage students in engineering at a much earlier age, through programs in our Center for Engineering Enhancement and Diversity. And already, the interest in our emerging programs in D.C. has been overwhelming.” —Julia M. Ross, the Paul and Dorothea Torgersen Dean of Engineering in Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering, has a background in developing longterm pathways to educational attainment, including pedagogical research at the K-12 level to expose students to engineering at earlier ages. Her technical research focuses on the role of fluid mechanics in infection formation in the cardiovascular system.
THE DETAILS The Dates •
November 2018: Innovation Campus announced as part of $1.1 billion tech-talent pipeline
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May 2019: Search for vice president and executive director launches
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June 2019: Potomac Yard site announced
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October 2019: Innovation Campus Fellows program kicks off
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November 2019: State commitment to Virginia Tech finalized with MOU
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November 2019: Initial site concept plan filed with the city of Alexandria
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December 2019: Architectural/engineering contract awarded for first academic building
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August 2020: First class of Innovation Campus launches in Alexandria start-up space
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October 2021: Final design for first academic building complete
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August 2024: Classes in first academic building begin
The Numbers: Phase 1
$ 1 billion
Anticipated investment at buildout
$ 500 million
Proposed 20-year commitment from commonwealth and Virginia Tech
750
Master’s degree candidates at scale
2,000
Increase in computer science undergraduates in Blacksburg
50
Initial top-tier and research faculty hires
60,000
Number of Virginia Tech alumni living in D.C. area
300,000
Estimated square feet of academic space and R&D facilities
250,000
Estimated square feet for startups and corporate facilities
The location of the Innovation Campus offers proximity to key partners, including: • Amazon • Industry • Government • Entrepreneurs and investors
The Site
The Region
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Located in Alexandria, near the nation’s capital, diverse industries, and Amazon’s HQ2
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D.C. is the third-largest market in the country for computer and mathematical operations jobs
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Part of a 65-acre mixed-use development in the North Potomac Yard portion of National Landing
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The addition of 750 master’s graduates per year by 2025 would increase computer and information science degree holders by 29 percent in the region
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Campus will include classrooms, incubator space for startups and R&D, offices for industry collaboration, convening space for alumni events
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Businesses benefit from improved access to university-related research and development, shared facilities, and a dedicated talent pipeline
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Businesses co-located in innovation hubs and central business district-style areas perform better in terms of sales growth and startup survival rates
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Over the next five years, employers in the Greater Washington Partnership expect to hire more 20,000 digital tech workers, paying on average more than $130,000 per year
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Plans call for public open space and ground-floor retail, knitting the campus into the fabric of Alexandria Proximate to the new Metro station being developed on the Yellow/Blue lines at the south end of the property
The campus can “ be a hub of innovation,
a means of expanding major industries with new technologies, new markets, and extraordinary new talent, to illuminate the best ideas and brightest minds. The No. 1 risk is to think small, not big. The Innovation Campus is our moment.” — Glenn Youngkin is co-CEO of The Carlyle Group. Founded in D.C. in 1987, Carlyle is one of the world’s largest and most successful investment firms, with $223 billion in assets under management. Youngkin has served in a number of roles at Carlyle since 1995; before that, he was a management consultant and worked in investment banking.
THE INVITATION Virginia Tech is moving boldly into the complexity of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and opportunities are vast. By design, we can’t do it alone. We will be working handin-hand with industry and public sector partners to meet the challenges of the digital age. Through a systems-level approach focused on problems at the human-computing frontier, we will supply a strong talent pool and research programs in computer science and computer engineering. The moment is now. Join us to reshape an innovation ecosystem in a world capital. Help us to: •
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Recruit the truly world-class faculty members and students who will define the next generation of the D.C. area’s economy Bring real-world data sets into the classroom for problem-solving
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Seed long-term research collaborations
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Co-teach alongside faculty members, enriching recruiting pathways
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Speed ideas from discovery to marketplace
Innovation Campus Leadership •
Tim Sands, president
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Dwayne Pinkney, senior vice president for
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Cyril Clarke, provost and executive vice president operations and administration
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Charlie Phlegar, vice president of advancement
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Brandy Salmon, founding managing director,
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Natalie Hart, assistant vice president of advancement Innovation Campus
Contacts •
Partnerships and involvement: Megan Wallace
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Community relations: David Baker
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Media relations: Michael Stowe
meganwallace@vt.edu; 571-858-3253
davidab7@vt.edu; 571-481-7612
mstowe@vt.edu; 540-231-2611
Learn more: vt.edu/innovationcampus
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The rigorous programs we launch and the powerful research we generate will help drive the innovation economy. Together with partners in industry, government, and education, we will cement Virginia as a world leader for the information age.” —Brandy Salmon, founding managing director of the Innovation Campus, has led the campus’s developments since before the announcement in November 2018. With more than 20 years of experience at the intersection of research and business, Salmon also serves as Virginia Tech’s associate vice president for innovation and partnerships. She came to Tech to develop a discovery-to-market approach — the LINK, LICENSE, and LAUNCH teams — to support all aspects of corporate partnerships, from research collaborations and corporate giving to technology commercialization and startups.
vt.edu/innovationcampus