Dean's Message

A school is an institution built around a body of knowledge. While this definition is certainly correct, it misses the point. In my view, a school flourishes only when this knowledge goes beyond textbooks and circulates from person to person. The exchange of ideas, information and insight makes schools engines for progress, measured in terms of outstanding graduates and research achievements.

Seen in this light, the Engineering School performs its core mission well, even in the face of major cuts in state funding. Our students are exceptional by any standards. The Class of 2010 included several finalists for Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships and a Truman Scholar. And the Class coming behind them is equally talented. Of the four Goldwater Scholarships awarded to third-year U.Va. students for the 2010 —11 school year, three were for students in the Engineering School. Certainly, our students show great promise when they are admitted, but it is our faculty's ability to convey not just knowledge but a love for knowledge that enables our students to realize their promise.

At the same time, faculty research is highly regarded. Four of our faculty members — Hilary Bart-Smith, John Knight, Pam Norris and Haydn Wadley — head Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives funded by the Department of Defense, Jim McDaniel has a $10 million grant to create analytical techniques needed to build hypersonic aircraft, and John Scully, Rob Kelly and Rick Gangloff are receiving $1 million in annual funding from the Department of Defense for their work on corrosion. Our newer faculty members are also doing well. This year, Sudhanva Gurumurthi, an assistant professor of computer science, received a $1 million Google Research Award to study energy efficiency in data centers.

There is, however, a third group of people who sustain this institution as it continues to meet its aspirations: our alumni and friends. This School benefits immensely from all those who give generously of their time, resources and expertise. Your contributions truly animate this School.