Initiatives and Opportunities

The Department of Computer Science is in a time of unprecedented growth and opportunity!  We look forward to sharing more about these initiatives during your visit. Four high impact initiatives are described below.

Innovation Campus and Tech Talent Pipeline
Virginia’s recent Amazon HQ2 win spurred a $1.1B statewide investment in higher education focused on computer science.  Virginia Tech is receiving the biggest share of these funds, including support for major new infrastructure and significant faculty growth both in Blacksburg and in the Washington, D.C., metro area.  The department is thrilled to be playing a lead role in establishing Virginia Tech's new Innovation Campus, located in Alexandria, VA, which is a cornerstone of the emerging National Landing district.  We are partnering on this exciting initiative with Lance Collins, who has recently joined Virginia Tech as the founding Vice President and Executive Director of the Innovation Campus.  All told, the Innovation Campus and Tech Talent Pipeline investments are projected to double our faculty size and undergraduate enrollment, and to more than double graduate enrollment, over the next 7-10 years.

Commonwealth Cyber Initiative
This new $25M (annual) statewide initiative, led by Virginia Tech, supports cybersecurity research and education.

Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics
The Discovery Analytics Center has recently received a naming gift to establish an endowment to sustain excellence and initiatives led by this department center.

Blockchain Initiative
Catalyzed by a generous gift from block.one, the department has launched a broad set of activities around research, education, and outreach in blockchain systems.