Campus briefs

HIRING

Cyber security expert named research center director

Virginia Tech's College of Engineering has named Charles Clancythe director of the Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Securityand Technology, and an associate professor in the department ofelectrical and computer engineering, the university announced.

Administered jointly by Tech's Institute for Critical Technologyand Applied Science and the College of Engineering, the Hume Centerspecializes in national security and technology research, includingcyber security, a university news release stated.

Clancy has served as research fellow for Tech's National CapitalRegion campus and associate director of the Hume Center. Prior tocoming to Tech, he worked in several capacities in the U.S.Department of Defense, including research on open-source softwareradio technology and establishing Internet infrastructure in Iraq,the release stated.

NURSING

New doctoral level concentration offered to nursing students

Radford University's doctorate of nursing practice program hasexpanded its offerings to include a new mental health careconcentration, the university announced.

The concentration is offered in collaboration with ShenandoahUniversity and prepares students for certification as a nursepractitioner in psychiatric mental health specialties.

Adult gerontology, family nurse practitioner and nurse midwiferyare also offered, a university news release stated.

The doctor of nursing practice degree, established in 2010, isthe first online distance learning program of its kind offered inVirginia, according to the release.

FACILITIES

New foundry facility to boost hands-on industrial education

Virginia Tech has announced the opening of the Kroehling AdvancedMaterials Foundry, a metal casting facility located on PlantationRoad in Blacksburg.

The 4,500-square-foot, $1.7 million facility includes a 125-kilowatt induction furnace capable of melting aluminum, copper,bronze, iron and steel. That and other high-tech equipment isexpected to help prepare students for careers in the metal castingand related industries, a university news release stated.

The facility opened to classes in January and was overseen by theVirginia Tech Foundry Institute for Research and Education, alsoknown as the VT-FIRE program, the release stated.

The facility is expected to serve a wide variety of studenteducation programs, including several engineering disciplines,architecture and urban studies, visual arts and industrial design.

APPOINTMENTS

Board of visitors names new student reps

The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors has named new undergraduateand graduate student representatives to serve as non-votingmembers.

Junior theatre arts major Matthew Banfield of Williamsburg willrepresent the undergraduate student body. Sociology doctoralstudent Michelle McLeese of Blacksburg will represent graduatestudents.

Student body representatives serve one-year terms beginning July1. The students will be ex-officio members of the Commission ofStudent Affairs and sit on a committee of the governing board.

The board of visitors is appointed by the governor and overseesthe university's budget and policies and supervises the universitypresident.

COMMON BOOK

Virginia Tech announces 2011-12 'Common Book'

Virginia Tech has announced the university's selection for 2011-2012 Common Book.

"This I Believe II," a collection of 75 short essays of personal philosophies by remarkable people has been named, a university newsrelease stated.

Each year the Common Book Committee, in collaboration withstudents, selects a book to be read and discussed by the campuscommunity at large. Speakers, class discussions and other eventsare often planned around the book or its themes, according to therelease.

Past common book selections include Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal Vegetable Miracle" and Daniel Goleman's "Ecological Intelligence."

Established 13 years ago, the Common Book Project gives new andtransfer undergraduate students a common academic experience duringtheir first year at the university.

BIODIESEL

College to offer biodiesel demonstration in Dublin

The Alternative Energy programs at New River Community Collegewill host a Biofuels Day at the Dublin campus on April 29, thecollege announced.

A mobile biodiesel education station will be located besideGodbey Hall from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., to demonstrate how vegetable oilis extracted from oilseed crops and how the oil used for deep-frying in restaurants may be recycled into fuel for automobiles, acollege news release stated.

The project is funded through a CREATES grant. CREATES, anacronym for Construction, Retrofitting and Energy-EfficiencyAssessment Training and Employment Systems, is funded by federalstimulus money, the release stated.

The college offers several specialized alternative energyprograms, including certificates in alternative energy and renewableenergy basics.

Find more information at www.nr.edu/energy.

HIGHER EDUCATION Tonia Moxley covers Virginia Tech, Radford

University and higher education trends throughout SouthwestVirginia. If you

have information you'd like featured, emailtonia.moxley@roanoke.com or call

381-1675.