Port of entry
By all accounts, the Port of Virginia and the overseas shipping industry as a whole are major economic drivers in the commonwealth, with an upward trajectory expected to continue. For fiscal year 2022, the port’s TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) container volume hit a record 3.7 million units, a 14.7% increase from 2021, which marked its […]
Va. launching semiconductor workforce initiative
The commonwealth is launching a Virginia Alliance for Semiconductor Technology to foster a semiconductor industry workforce, funding its establishment with a $3.3 million Growth and Opportunity for Virginia (GO Virginia) grant. Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the initiative Friday. In March, GO Virginia announced the $3.3 million grant to the program, then called the Virginia Nanotechnology [&hellip[...]
Va. Tech names SVP for advancement
Virginia Tech has promoted Charlie Phlegar to senior vice president for advancement, the university announced Thursday. Phlegar has led efforts in fundraising, alumni relations, communications and marketing since 2015. Under his leadership, Tech’s advancement division has secured record amounts of new gifts and commitments, including $268.5 million in fiscal year 2021-2022. Undergraduate giv[...]
Tech students dig into high-tech mock mine
Robots don’t belong on volleyball courts, but for more than a decade Virginia Tech students had no other large, sandy place to test out mining robots. It was “a real lost opportunity” that students didn’t have a dedicated space to work with mining machines, says Erik Westman, a professor and interim department head at Tech’s […]
Youngkin announces $8.1M in GO Virginia grants
A variety of projects around the state intended to spur economic and workforce development will get a boost from $8.1 million in state GO Virginia grants, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Friday. The 17 projects are expected to add hundreds of jobs. Nearly $4.8 million will fund two Virginia Tech projects, including one expected to build […]
Sweet valley high
For Paul Mahoney, chair of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors, the past year has stood out for bringing an “explosion of development” to the county. Home improvement retailer Lowe’s Cos. Inc. opened a new distribution center. North American Specialty Laminations LLC established a mid-Atlantic production facility. And Würth Revcar Fasteners Inc. began work on […]
Va. Tech names new biz school dean
Saonee Sarker, a professor at Sweden’s Lund University, will serve as the next dean of the Virginia Tech‘s Pamplin College of Business following an international search. Virginia Tech announced Sarker’s new role Monday. She has been a professor in Lund University’s Department of Informatics in the School of Economics and Management since 2021, and is also a […]
Va. Tech names College of Architecture, Arts and Design dean
Virginia Tech has named a new dean to lead its College of Architecture, Arts, and Design (AAD) following an international search. Tsai Lu Liu will start July 1. He has led the Department of Graphic Design and Industrial Design at North Carolina State University, in Raleigh, since 2012 and has a background in industry and […]
Tech researchers aim to transform power grid
Across the American landscape about 3,000 more wind turbines have popped up every year since 2005, and more than 2.7 million homes in the U.S. now sport solar panels. The power grid also is transforming, but the system is still better suited to centralized coal-fired plants, not widely dispersed sources of renewable energy. A four-person […]
On your mark
When Virginia Commonwealth University closed its buildings in spring 2020, then-student Julien Reininger wasn’t deterred from his entrepreneurial pursuits. In the kitchen of his parents’ Springfield home, Reininger ran a dehydrator for eight hours at a time, creating vegan jerky from canned jackfruit and developing different marinades. “I’m sure when I started doing it, they [&[...]
Reston-based Octo to be acquired by IBM
Reston-based Octo is being acquired by IBM and its 1,500 employees will become part of IBM Consulting’s U.S. public and federal market arm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in a news release Thursday. IBM is acquiring the company from Arlington Capital Partners and the deal is expected to close by the end of […]
Va. Tech’s real estate program becomes department
Virginia Tech’s real estate program has earned approval from the State Council for Higher Education to become the Blackwood Department of Real Estate. Becoming a department housed under the Pamplin School of Business will offer the former program more resources, enhance its academic and experiential learning offerings and boost its ability to recruit top faculty […]