VCU Engineering: Our first quarter century

Before 1996, Richmond was the largest urban area in the U.S. without an undergraduate engineering program.

Now, VCU Engineering is more than 6,500 alumni strong.

Let's take a walk down memory lane and say happy 25th anniversary to the “engineering college that could” — and did.

Got photos? Got memories? Email them to engrmktcomm@vcu.edu so we can add them to this roundup!

Before the beginning: 1957-1968

The Richmond Professional Institute (RPI) — VCU's predecessor — offered drafting courses for students seeking an alternative to four-year engineering programs. RPI fleshed out its engineering technology program in 1957-58. Those alumni are some of VCU Engineering’s earliest trailblazers.

Images from "Cobblestones," RPI's yearbook, depict early Ram Engineers — and a few then-new technologies.

RPI class of 1968 alum Rhonda Williams' slide rule from her days as an RPI engineering technology student. “We showed up to class already looking like engineers,” she recalled. “Shirts with ties, and some even had a belt attachment that was like a holster for your slide rule. That slide rule was our first computer!" (Photo courtesy of Rhonda Williams.)

On the verge: The early 90s

In the last years of the 20th century, it was clear Richmond needed to expand and upgrade its technology workforce. With an eye on seizing the next millennium's opportunities, the public and private sectors asked experts for their advice. Their recommendation was unequivocal.

Key players from government, business and VCU sprang into action to make VCU Engineering happen.

Left to right, top to bottom: Eugene Trani, Ph.D., VCU president 1990 - 2009; Richmond business leader and philanthropist William H. Goodwin, Jr.; founding dean of VCU Engineering Henry McGee, Ph.D.: first VCU Engineering faculty member Robert Mattauch, Ph.D. with founding board member Paul R. Rocheleau.

VCU's board of trustees heartily supported the consultants' recommendation. VCU Engineering was off and running.

Now open: 1996-2000

VCU Engineering opened in 1996 with faculty, staff and students eager to finish one millennium by creating a new kind of engineering program for the next one. The Ram Engineers of the college's first five years were taking a risk — VCU Engineering couldn't be accredited until its first class had graduated. But what's a little risk compared with the possibility of creating something awesome?

Founding Dean Henry A. McGee, Ph.D., reflects on the beginning of VCU Engineering. WATCH VIDEO

Early faculty and staff members, Left to right, top to bottom: Robert Mattauch, Ph.D. (first faculty hire) with Dean Henry McGee, Ph.D., Rosalyn Hobson Hargraves, Ph.D., Gerald Miller, Ph.D., Frank Gulla, M.S.; Paul Rocheleau, M.B.A.

The college opened with a cohort of 103 students who would become, significantly, the class of 2000. The student body grew each year with a new influx of intrepid engineering students. Top row, from left: Dmitriy Shneyder with Robert Mattauch, Ph.D.; Sinoun Sot and Robbie Staples; Sinoun Sot with her parents. Middle row, from left: Robert Snodgrass; Julia and Nicholas Cain. Bottom row, from left: Michael Morris, Ed Buchanan and Justin Marshall.

Voices: Class of 2000

Shahab Siddiqui, Ph.D. “VCU Engineering equipped me to think independently, and not be afraid to experiment. I am so grateful and lucky that I was part of it. Some of my family members joked, ‘VCU opened an engineering school for you,’ as I was a new immigrant and looking for electrical engineering programs in Virginia.” Read more

Mia (Pham) Sanchez de Lozada, D.D.S. “I was the only graduate of the biomedical engineering program in 2000 and the first undergraduate biomedical engineering major in Virginia. (Now) I am a dentist with my own practice. Engineering school really helped me with the discipline required for my studies in dental school. I visited two years ago and was amazed at how the school has progressed.” Read more

Robert Snodgrass, P.E. “I mostly remember the excitement of starting something new. Being a part of VCU Engineering at that time felt like the start of a great endeavor and the feeling was palpable. The school started with a big vision and a lot of ambition and it has been wonderful seeing all of that pay off.” Read more

Robbie Staples, P.E., MCSE, MCSA "For the first two years, all classes were held in other buildings around campus. Getting West Hall was incredible. Dr. Klenke really prepared me for life after school by exposing me to ideas that did not come so easily." Read more

A home for VCU Engineering: West Hall

At first, engineering classes were held in spare classrooms around the VCU campus. On November 10, 1998, West Hall was dedicated at the corner of Belvidere and Main. Its signature pyramid, a nod to the engineering accomplishments of the ancients, is a landmark on VCU's Monroe Park campus.

Scroll to watch West Hall take shape, from the ground-up

Engineering for the next millennium: 2001-2005

VCU Engineering greeted the first decade of the millennium with a new department, a new center and plans for a new building — all tailored to an era bent on moving information at the speed of light.

Computer science joins VCU Engineering

In 2001, VCU's Department of Computer Science, formerly part of the College of Humanities and Sciences, joined VCU Engineering. VCU Engineering's computer science department was the first in Virginia to receive ABET accreditation.

Virginia Microelectronics Center opens

A major gift from businessman C. Kenneth Wright and his wife Dianne established the Virginia Microelectronics Virginia Microelectronics Center (VMEC), "where the next big thing starts small." The 8,000-square-foot center focuses on the fabrication and development of micro- and nano devices and state-of-the-art material creation. Left to right, top to bottom: Kenneth and Dianne Wright, VMEC's current home in the Institute for Engineering and Medicine, microelectronics characterization and fabrication in the VMEC.

Moving east: A second building for the college

VCU Engineering needed new facilities to keep up with this growth in programs. Robert Mattauch, Ph.D., the second dean of VCU Engineering, oversaw the planning for such a building: East Hall, across Belvidere Street from West Hall. The new building could not come soon enough: Student enrollment topped 1,000 for the first time in the college's history.

An early sketch of East Hall, centerpiece of the “second phase” of VCU Engineering, was approved by VCU's Board of Visitors in 2004.

A new Renaissance: 2006-2010

As VCU Engineering began its second decade, it channeled the interdisciplinary, civic-minded spirit of the Italian Renaissance. Between 2006-2010, the college fostered three new centers dedicated to solving problems by bringing together engineering, science, business and the arts.

The da Vinci Center for Innovation

In 2008, the VCU da Vinci Center opened in its first headquarters in the East Hall tower. A collaboration of VCU’s colleges of Engineering and Humanities and Sciences, and its schools of Business and the Arts, the center is a hub for interdisciplinary innovation to prepare students for a career in product design and innovation. It is also a resource for company-sponsored projects and helps aspiring student teams bring their ideas to market.

The Institute for Engineering and Medicine

VCU's Institute for Engineering and Medicine opened in 2009. Situated behind West Hall, is a destination for biomedical researchers from VCU's Monroe Park and MCV campuses. Among them was noted biomedical engineering scholar Russell Jamison, Ph.D., who had become dean of VCU Engineering in 2006. Left to right, top to bottom: Joshua Cohen, M.D.; graduate students conducting research; Russell Jamison, Ph.D., third dean of VCU Engineering.

The Nanomaterials Core Characterization Facility

Also in 2009, the VCU Office of Research established the Nanomaterials Core Characterization Facility (NCC), located in the Institute for Engineering and Medicine. A partnership between the VCU College of Engineering and the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences, the NCC's advanced instrumentation and expert scientists are available to researchers across the university, and from industry.

Let's get to work: The first Internship and Career Fair

Companies across the region were eager to hire students trained in the college's brand of creative and multidisciplinary thinking, so VCU's Engineering Internship and Career Fair was born in this period, as well.

East Hall opens

East Hall opened in 2008. Its tall, hexagonal tower, flanked by round arches, remains a monument to the whole-brain, Renaissance approach that was rapidly becoming VCU Engineering's hallmark. The 115,000-square-foot expansion includes state-of-the-art lecture halls, more than 60 research and teaching labs, student meeting and study spaces, classrooms and faculty offices.

Left to right, top to bottom: East Hall underconstruction, the building's side yard (later to become the site of the Engineering Research Building), East Hall's Qimonda Atrium, two views of the building's signature Renaissance-style portico.

Stepping up, standing out: 2011-2015

The early 2010s were about reaching out to show what was possible at VCU Engineering. The college instituted a doctoral program that's still the only one of its kind in the nation. All-night coding marathons showed the world what Ram Engineers are made of. And new programs brought young people — as early as high school — into real-world research at VCU Engineering.

Mechanical and nuclear engineering hybrid

VCU Engineering's unique hybrid Ph.D. in mechanical and nuclear engineering was launched in 2012. It remains the only such doctoral program in the country. Left to right, top to bottom: Supathorn Phongikaroon, Ph.D.; Sama Bilbao y Leon, Ph.D., with doctoral student Daniel Bond; doctoral student Dimitris Killinger; high school teachers work with geiger counters in an educator workshop; laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy; doctoral student Hunter Andrews; doctoral student Daniell Tinscher; Bilbao y Leon, now the director general of the World Nuclear Organization.

Supporting early research

Why wait until grad school — or even college — to work on real projects in real labs? When Barbara D. Boyan, Ph.D., became dean of college in 2013, she launches three new programs that made early research a hallmark of the VCU Engineering experience.

The Dean's Early Research Institute (DERI) invites high school students to conduct university-level research projects.
In the Dean's Undergraduate Research Institute (DURI), the college's sophomores and juniors design and execute a yearlong research project.
Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) gives undergraduate students opportunities to work on multiyear, multi-level research projects.

Left to right, top to bottom: Barbara D. Boyan, Ph.D., VCU Engineering's dean and an early research advocate; DURI students Lauren Hayward and Ellen Korcovelos; VIP students work on an unmanned aerial vehicle; high school students await award announcements at the DERI symposium.

The hackathon era is born

In 2014, VCU Engineering burst onto the burgeoning hackathon scene with Ram Hacks, an intense all-nighter of coding and innovation that Major League Hacking named one of the country's top hackathons. Within the next few years, other creative sprints were launched: HealthHacks, for unmet medical needs; EarthHacks, for environmental solutions; and Power the Future, for new energy technologies. In the same spirit, M2M, an electrical and computer engineering obstacle course, was launched in 2018.

Onward and Upward: 2016-2021

The last five years have shown there's no stopping VCU Engineering. The college added new facilities near the medical campus and launched global initiatives in pharmaceutical engineering. As a crowning achievement, VCU Engineering opened its newest building in early 2021.

Bio+Tech Research Park

The college's footprint grew to include spaces in Virginia's Bio+Tech Research Park, home to nearly 60 life science companies, research institutes and government laboratories. VCU Engineering's facilities in the research park foster collaboration with other labs and startups. The expansion also capitalizes on VCU Engineering's close relationship with VCU Health System, Virginia’s largest university hospital.

Many of VCU Engineering's advances in biomedical, pharmaceutical and mechanical engineering have come out of the college's expanded lab facilities in Bio+Tech 1 and Bio+Tech 8. These spaces give the college a robust presence in the research park, adjacent to VCU's medical campus.

Engineering medicines — for all

B. Frank Gupton, Ph.D., with researchers in VCU Engineering's Medicines for All laboratories at Bio+Tech 8. Gupton is founder and CEO of M4ALL and VCU Engineering’s Floyd D. Gottwald, Jr. Chair in Pharmaceutical Engineering and professor and chair of VCU’s Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering and co-founder of Phlow Corp.

The college has also become a global player in pharmaceutical engineering. With a $25 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the college's Medicines for All Institute was established in 2017 to create cleaner, more efficient pharmaceutical manufacturing processes that would increase global access to lifesaving medications.

Leaders from VCU Engineering and VCU School of Pharmacy at the 2019 opening of VCU's Center for Pharmaceutical Engineering and Sciences. From left: Sandro R.P. da Rocha, Ph.D.; Barbara D. Boyan, Ph.D.; Joseph T. DiPiro, Pharm.D.; Thomas D. Roper, Ph.D. Photo by Danny Tiet, VCU School of Pharmacy.

Two years later, VCU Engineering partnered with the School of Pharmacy to offer the nation's only doctoral program in pharmaceutical engineering.

Left to right, top to bottom: B. Frank Gupton, Ph.D., with then-governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe at the 2017 announcement of the Medicines for All Institute; pharmaceutical engineering researchers; Barbara D. Boyan, Ph.D., with leaders from VCU and the Ivory Coast, signs an agreement for M4ALL to provide advanced pharmaceutical engineering education to researchers in the African nation; Gupton with U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger after her announcement at VCU Engineering of new legislation to create a strategic national stockpile of pharmaceutical ingredients.

VCU opens the Engineering Research Building

On Feb. 3, 2021, VCU Engineering opened its landmark Engineering Research Building. WATCH VIDEO

Funded through public-private partnerships, the massive facility significantly expands the college’s lab space for advanced research. It also fosters economic development initiatives and hands-on engineering education.

In these respects, it is also a monument to values that have always made VCU Engineering great.

And it's just down the block and across the street from where the dream began a quarter century before.

Left to right, top to bottom: Gregory Triplett, Ph.D., John Leonard, Ph.D., Barbara Boyan, Ph.D., and L. Franklin Bost, M.B.A., IDSA, FAIMBE, at the 2018 groundbreaking ceremony for the ERB; Boyan and VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., signing the final beam in the building's structure; the Collaboration Hub; students at work in the building's computer science research neighborhood; halls leading to some of the ERB's 25 wet and dry biomedical engineering labs; biomedical engineering doctoral candidate Franck Kamga with former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe; the ERB's Innovation Courtyard, which is fully wired for outdoor collaborations.

Appreciate