REGIONAL VIEW | ROANOKE/NEW RIVER VALLEY
Va. Tech complex to house biz programs by Beth JoJack
F
all visitors to Virginia Tech are likely to spot laborers hard at work on the university’s Data and Decision Sciences building, the first of four buildings that will make up the university’s Global Business and Analytics Complex (GBAC) — classroom and living spaces centered around using data to address problems facing businesses and society. “We’ve been working on this project for years, so to be at the point where the first of the four buildings is coming out of the ground feels great,” says Robert Sumichrast, dean of Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business. To woo
Amazon.com Inc. to bring its HQ2 East Coast headquarters to Northern Virginia, state leaders in 2018 created the Tech Talent Investment Program, a workforce pipeline initiative. As part of it, the General Assembly allocated $69 million for the Data and Decision Sciences building, and Virginia Tech officials agreed to add at least 2,000 additional students in computer science, computer engineering and related disciplines. Scheduled to open in 2023, the 115,000-square-foot Data and Decision Sci- ences building will serve multiple colleges, including the College of Engineering, the College of Science and the Pamplin College of Business. The building will include special- ized labs, data visualization classrooms and
FOR THE RECORD
One of the largest rooftop solar energy projects in the Roanoke region is now operating at Goodwill Industries of the Valleys. In mid-October, the nonprofit installed solar panels at its Support Center/ Jobs Campus building on Melrose Avenue. About 90% of the building’s electricity will be generated by renewable energy, reducing annual carbon dioxide emissions equal to that produced by burning 581,000 pounds of coal. The solar panels will have a maximum capacity of 548 kilowatts at any given time, and over a year will produce up to 742 megawatt-hours of electricity. (The Roanoke Times)
Two counties in the Roanoke and New River valleys are separately seeking state funding to help with major broadband internet access expansion projects. Montgomery County leaders put support behind a grant application that, if approved, would help pave the way for far greater availability of broadband in much of the county outside of Blacksburg and Christiansburg. Montgomery is seeking another grant through the Virginia Telecommunications
10 | JUNE 2019
A rendering of Virginia Tech’s Data and Decision Sciences building
team rooms for interdisciplinary student collaboration.
The second academic building to be built as part of the GBAC will house the Pamplin College of Business. Currently, faculty mem- bers from the business college’s real estate and hospitality and tourism management departments have offices scattered across campus due to a lack of room in Pamplin Hall, the college’s current home. “Being able to bring them together will really allow more synergy within the business college,” Sumichrast says. Additionally, the GBAC complex will include two “living-learning residential communities” with housing for 700 under- graduates studying business, science and
Initiative. In the Roanoke Valley, Botetourt County applied for nearly $3.1 million through VATI toward a $7.9 million project to bring universal broadband coverage to the county by 2023. (The Roanoke Times)
Virginia Tech has launched a research institute focused on national security with presences in Blacksburg and the Washington, D.C., metro area, the university announced in September. The Virginia Tech National Security Institute aspires to become “the nation’s preeminent academic organization at the nexus of interdisciplinary research, technology, policy and talent development to advance national security.” Tech has long had ties to the Department of Defense, which contributed $50 million in federal funding to the university in fiscal year
2020.The institute will bring together researchers, programs and resources from across the university and industry leaders. (
VirginiaBusiness.com)
Virginia Tech leaders, key partners and government officials formally opened the $90 million, 139,000-square-foot Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC in mid-October. Already equipped
NOVEMBER 2021
engineering. It will also have entrepreneur- ship laboratories and faculty-in-residence apartments.
As of late September, Virginia Tech had put together all but a little under $8 million for the $250 million GBAC through state and private funding, accord- ing to Sumichrast. The Deloitte Foundation, along with
Virginia Tech alumni who work at Deloitte, contributed $3 million to build the GBAC. Virginia Tech also received a $2.1 million grant from the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation for the project. “I’m confident that by next summer
we’ll have the money raised,” Sumichrast says. ■
with research instrumentation and new laboratories for up to 25 research teams, the building has been operational for a year. The LEED Silver-certified building designed by AECOM has sustainability features, including a meadow garden roof that prevents flooding. Set in the heart of the Roanoke Innovation Corridor, the institute is a major economic driver in the region, currently employing more than 400 researchers, staff, and trainees. (Virginia Tech news release)
PEOPLE
Pam Bailey will be the new Bedford County economic development director after serving as the interim director. Since February 2018, Bailey has served as the county economic development office’s marketing and business development coordinator, leading marketing, managing the departmental and EDA budgets and assisting with securing grants. She has worked with
Bailey
Lynchburg-based firm Blair Marketing, Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson and United Way of Central Virginia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in interior design with a minor in marketing from Meredith College. Bailey succeeds Traci Blido, who is now the director of the Central Virginia Workforce Development Board. (
VirginiaBusiness.com)
Michael C. Maxey, the 11th president of Roanoke College, announced in September that he will retire at the end of the academic year. Maxey has been with Roanoke College, located in Salem, since 1985 and has served as president since 2007. He has served the longest of any of the college’s presidents. “The decision has been most difficult, but it is right for Terri [Maxey] and me, and for Roanoke College,” Maxey said in a statement. “I will always treasure the opportunity to have served Roanoke College as president.” (
VirginiaBusiness.com)
Maxey
Rendering courtesy Virginia Tech
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