Engineering without boundaries

The surging demand for energy.

The country’s aging, overwhelmed electrical grid. Threats of cyberattacks. The explosion of interest in — and confusion about — artificial intelligence.

These real-life problems don’t know boundaries. Neither should the search for solutions, says Azim Eskandarian, dean of Virginia Commonwealth University’s College of Engineering.

Cross-disciplinary learning is the way of the future and VCU’s engineering school is setting itself up to be that kind of learning institution, says Eskandarian, who advocates for what he calls “engineering without boundaries.”

In a move to break down walls between disciplines and qualify students for high-demand jobs, the college has added six new minors for undergraduates: artificial intelligence, aerospace engineering, nuclear engineering, software engineering, cybersecurity, and data science. These minors became available at the beginning of the 2024-25 academic year.

What makes the addition of these minors so valuable is that engineering “has become a more interdisciplinary field that requires at least a basic understanding of principles from a variety of industries,” says John R. Harrell, Dominion Energy’s director of nuclear engineering and fuel department.

Richmond-based Dominion, which runs four nuclear reactors in Surry and Louisa counties and is taking steps toward potentially developing a small nuclear modular reactor at the North Anna Power Station, relies on VCU engineering graduates to fill a wide range of positions, including mechanical design engineer, electric transmission engineer, nuclear core design engineer and nuclear spent fuels engineer.

“Knowledge of nuclear power generation could be beneficial to an electrical engineer working on the power grid. A deeper understanding of nuclear energy can enable them to find better and more efficient solutions for Dominion Energy,” says Harrell, a member of VCU’s nuclear engineering advisory board.

Having expertise in more than one engineering discipline allows new hires “to rotate between roles on a team that might have been unavailable to a specialist,” he adds.

The engineering college teaches nearly 2,000 undergraduate students and approximately 300 graduate students who are pursuing degrees in everything from biomedical engineering through nuclear engineering.

In addition to the new minor focuses, the college has six new master’s concentrations in aerospace engineering, engineering management, environmental and sustainable engineering, rehabilitation engineering, systems engineering, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine.

Eskandarian describes VCU’s engineering curriculum as focused and unusual. “We don’t have programs in industrial or civil engineering — we don’t have that traditional type of program.” 

Nuclear option

The new nuclear engineering minor helps VCU address the ever-expanding need for education relating to nuclear power reactors, shipbuilding and medical isotopes, according to John Speich, interim chair and professor of VCU’s Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering.

The demand for sustainable energy has spurred interest in small modular reactors (SMRs), which have a lower initial capital investment, greater scalability and a smaller physical footprint than traditional reactors, allowing them to be built closer to the grid.

In July, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill aimed at accelerating the deployment of SMRs in Virginia. Dominion Energy followed up with requests for proposals to study the feasibility of an SMR at North Anna. In October, Dominion Energy Virginia signed an agreement with Amazon.com to explore potential development of SMRs, with Amazon helping finance the move.

Only two SMRs are currently in operation worldwide, officials note, and Virginia likely wouldn’t have its own small reactor until at least the mid-2030s.

The new minor, says Supathorn Phongikaroon, engineering foundation professor and director of nuclear engineering programs at VCU, will help expand the pool of scientific talent available in Virginia. “We want … to involve and include people who often think this is an extremely difficult area” and shy away from it, he says.

For example, he says, students majoring in electrical engineering could add the minor to enable them to better explore possible nuclear-power solutions to the U.S.’s growing demand for energy, largely attributed to expanding digital use and data center growth.

Five or six students are already taking the nuclear engineering minor. The intro class typically has about 30 students, but about 40 are enrolled this fall, Phongikaroon says.

VCU offers students a wealth of opportunities to research various aspects of nuclear power. Its Nuclear Reactor Simulator Laboratory is home to the GSE Solutions GPWR (Generic Pressurized Water Reactor) nuclear reactor simulator, which mimics the behavior of a nuclear reactor like those at Dominion’s power stations that heat water to create steam and drive an electric generator.

This gives students hands-on experience with nuclear plants’ operations and lets them learn how to handle unanticipated events.

“It can simulate an entire power plant,” Eskandarian says, which allows researchers to study a range of issues, including sustainability and potential safety hazards.

VCU also is involved in research at the Center of Operational Excellence for Nuclear Products and Services in Lynchburg and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The university’s work has been honored by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency, among others.

The nuclear engineering minor also is valuable in the nuclear Navy and the shipbuilding industry, Speich says.

Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is one of two primary designers and builders of nuclear-powered submarines for the U.S. Navy. And it is currently building the Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the first new aircraft carrier design in decades.

VCU has many nuclear and mechanical engineering alumni at Newport News Shipbuilding, as well as other big employers like nuclear fuel maker BWX Technologies and nuclear reactor builder Framatome in Lynchburg, Speich notes, and “we have representatives from these companies on our advisory boards.”

Other options are in the study of medical isotopes, an essential part of radiopharmaceuticals that are used to detect diagnosis and treat cardiovascular diseases and cancer, according to Phongikaroon.

In 2023, the Energy Department awarded a VCU-led team a $5 million grant to develop a more efficient method of isotope production, and researchers from VCU, Virginia State University and Virginia Union University are forming a consortium with the Oak Ridge laboratory to train 70 undergraduate and graduate students in all aspects of isotope production.

The next frontier

Nuclear energy isn’t the only hot area of research. VCU engineering master’s students have the option for a concentration in aerospace engineering, which prompted the idea of offering a minor to undergraduates.

The demand for education in the field certainly has been strong, according to Speich. “When we have open houses, people ask if we have aerospace.” VCU students are active in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics professional society and in RAM Rocketry, which provides experience in the field of rocketry and aerospace design through student rocketry competitions.

The minor will be useful to engineering students seeking jobs related to the design, manufacture and testing of airplanes, helicopters, drones, rockets, spacecraft or satellites, Speich says. So far, “we have at least a dozen in this minor,” he says. One student who had already begun taking electives, “will be graduating in December.”

Having already offered aerospace courses, VCU can cite an impressive list of employers its engineering grads have gone on to, including NASA, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Artificial intelligence is also another popular area of study, Eskandarian says — “perhaps the hottest topic now. It’s on the news all the time.”

This new minor covers the essentials of AI technology, with a selection of courses that delve into topics such as machine learning, natural language processing and the ethical considerations of AI.

According to a survey of 300 U.S. and U.K. organizations conducted by Gartner, a technology research and consulting firm, 56% of software engineering leaders rated AI/machine learning engineer as the most in-demand role for 2024, as well as the biggest skills gap.

While perhaps not quite as red-hot as AI is currently, VCU’s minors in data science, cybersecurity and software engineering are also promising fields for future employment.

All types of businesses want employees who know how to handle data, says Eskandarian, and the data science minor  is primarily for students majoring in computer science and mathematical sciences with a concentration in statistics.

This interdisciplinary field combines expertise in statistics, computer science and domain-specific knowledge to extract insights and knowledge from data, according to Preetam Ghosh, a professor and interim chair for the engineering college’s Department of Computer Science.

Ghosh’s department is the largest in the college, offering courses on AI, cybersecurity, high-performance data mining and machine learning, among other fields. Data science is used in all of them, Ghosh says. “Every graduate of VCU should have a chance to get educated in data science and AI. Every job needs some type of data and AI, even arts majors.”

As for the cybersecurity minor, it’s open to non-computer science majors and gives them valuable troubleshooting skills that let them identify hacking weaknesses and correct problems. The student may not be qualified to create a cyber defense product, Ghosh says, but “it covers the basics” such as blockchain technology, a method of recording information that makes it difficult for the system to be hacked or manipulated.

As for software engineering, Ghosh says it’s a mainstay for the IT industry, where “the demand is more than the supply. These are good jobs with security.”

The minor is meant to provide students with an understanding of software life cycles; architecture and design patterns; agile software development; and maintenance and testing methodologies. Students also learn about how to collaborate in large software development teams.

Many software jobs don’t need to be filled by someone who has majored in the field, Ghosh adds. It could be an art student or a marketing major. “We’re creating new pathways for students from different backgrounds. We’ve democratized software engineering.”

Eskandarian sees all of these new minors as critical to meeting the needs of students and companies in Virginia. “We want to produce student leader engineers that are serving the market.”

VCU at a glance

Founded

Virginia Commonwealth University was founded in 1838 as the Medical College of Hampden-Sydney and was later renamed the Medical College of Virginia. In 1968, MCV merged with Richmond Professional Institute to form VCU.

Campus

VCU has two campuses in downtown Richmond covering a total of 198 acres. The Monroe Park Campus houses most undergraduate students and classes. VCU’s five health sciences schools, the College of Health Professions, VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center and VCU Health are located on the MCV campus.

Enrollment

Undergraduate: 21,548
Graduate: 5,550
First professional: 1,496
International: 1,030
In-state: 86%
Minority: 55%

Employees
25,359*

Faculty

Full-time faculty: 2,457
Full-time university and academic professionals: 3,675

Tuition and fees

In-state tuition and fees: $16,720**
Tuition and fees (out of state): $39,884**
Room and board and other fees: $14,268***

Average financial aid awarded to full-time freshmen seeking assistance: $20,261

* Includes VCU and VCU Health

** Based on 15 credit hours per semester and 30 credit hours for the 2024-25 year. This does not include program fees, which vary based on a student’s major.

*** Room charge is based on a double occupancy in Rhoads Hall, and the dining rate is for the 200 swipes with $225 dining dollars meal plan for the 2024-25 year.