The Virginia Tech Innovation Campus is getting its finishing touches as the administration prepares to open it to students for the first time this semester.
Construction on Innovation Campus Academic Building One, an 11-story, 300,000-square-foot facility in Alexandria, wrapped up in December. Leadership now begins to transition from the closed campus in Falls Church to this new space with classes beginning on January 21.
“The students are going to be in an amazing facility that’s designed for them to do the kinds of work they’re doing,” says Lance Collins, Innovation Campus vice president and executive director. “There are research facilities, the new classrooms are amazing and are really high-tech. … This is just a very large moment for the Innovation Campus.”
Some 455 students are enrolled at the new campus this semester, where they’ll take master’s-level courses in computer science and engineering. There are currently 18 faculty members, 11 of whom came from other Virginia Tech campuses.
The faculty members leading this new campus are “high performing” and are “really energized by interacting with external parties like corporations or agencies or even nonprofits,” Collins says.
This “outward-facing” characteristic plays into the way the Innovation Campus aims to engage with companies in the Northern Virginia area and beyond. “We feel as though we’ve had an economic development mission along with our academic mission, so it’s really important that the people really embrace and reinforce that characteristic,” Collins says.
In keeping with that mission, students will use a project-based curriculum that emphasizes their ability to work on a team. Students can work on multi-semester projects in collaboration with external organizations or companies that choose to sponsor programs. Boeing and the U.S. Marine Corps will lead two such projects in spring 2025.
“We use the project to teach the technical skills that [students] need in their careers, but also to build a different kind of muscle, the muscle that allows you to work effectively in a group, manage conflict, manage the project to deadline,” Collins says. And for the companies involved, it provides a chance to closely engage with the students who will someday join the workforce.
During this first semester, leadership will conduct surveys and focus groups to gather feedback from students and faculty. As the Innovation Campus grows, leadership will think of ways to expand to include other disciplines, such as business and health care. “I view it as a startup, the entire operation,” Collins says. “And what we’re standing up now really defines this moment.”
What’s Inside
- A drone cage for testing unmanned aerial vehicles
- A photovoltaic system that uses solar energy to power the building
- Specialized laboratories
- 14 classrooms, including the 3,000-square-foot Boeing Auditorium
- The Loft, a two-story makerspace where students can “convene in groups, work, design, and develop ideas”
- Wellness spaces for students and faculty
Feature image courtesy Virginia Tech
This story originally ran in our January Issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
