I saw the movie "The Imitation Game" on Friday and spent a few hours afterwards Wikipedia-ing the Enigma Code, Alan Turing, Bletchley Park, etc. During that time, I found out that one of the members of the Turing team, Jack Good, was a professor at VT from 1967-1994 (here's a link to VT's collection on Good). Good also advised Stanley Kubrick on scientific matters for "2001: A Space Odyssey."
Reading about Dr. Good got me thinking about other VT professors (past or present) who have done cool things outside of Blacksburg. I often talk to others about famous VT alums, but have never really given the professors a whole lot of thought.
I know Dr. James (Bud) Robertson, the Civil War professor, was the chief historical consultant for Gods and Generals, helping to make sure everything was historically accurate.
The Plaid Avenger (Geography professor John Boyer) had King Abdullah II of Jordan set to come to talk to his class in 2013 before a snowstorm derailed his travel plans from D.C.
Dr. G. Wayne Clough was a VT Engineering Prof from 1982-1990 and Dean of the College of Engineering from 1990-93 and went on to become the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution (as well as the president of the lesser of the ACC Techs).
Nikki Giovanni is an award-winning poet who is famously known to the Hokie community as the convocation speaker at the April 16 memorial service. She is a University Distinguished Professor in the English department.
Roland Lazenby was a faculty member in the Department of Communication and is one of the predominant Michael Jordan biographers in the world (I wanted to type "Michael Jordan scholars" but just sounds weird).
If you know of any other awesome VT professors, please leave them in the comments below!
Comments
I would like to point out that Prof. Boyer had Aung San Suu Kyi Skype into class. She is a freedom fighter in Burma. At the time, I didn't realize how influential she was, but I've heard her name multiple times in national news since the Skype meeting. According to Forbes, she is the 61st most powerful woman in the world #sources
Do work, Plaid Avenger. She's a 5-star recruit as far as world politics goes.
She won the Nobel Peace Prize. Also the talk is on the youtubes.
By far one of the coolest professors I've ever had. Intro to World Studies was always a "must -attend"
World Regions was the best. He is the reason I also took geography of wine.
Leg for the correction, World Regions, not world studies. It's been a few years.....*sigh*
World Regions is the class I will always think was the best class I ever attended at VT. Not only was the class awesome and fun to be in and attend, but it also challenged my views of the the US and its place in the World.
I still watch his plaidcasts from time to time. Whenever something big happens in the world, I want to know his take on it.
I also took his Wine class! One of my favorite classes!
Dr Librescu certainly has my respect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liviu_Librescu
Dennis Hong, former professor and founder of RoMeLa. He was named one of the best scientists under 40. A lot of people will recognize CHARLI and DARwIn from past Virginia Tech halftime spots
It looks like he took a promotion and is now at UCLA
Let's just say that Dennis Hong leaving wasn't very amicable. I know a lot of people who were graduate researchers in his lab that were royally screwed over by this guy leaving. He didn't inform any of them of his plans, and dropped his funding for all of them essentially overnight. His lab did a lot of cool things, but from what people who worked for him tell me, he was not a great person, and I definitely don't want him representing Virginia Tech.
Edit: Oops, meant to post as a reply to above.
I was kind of afraid something like that happened. I was an outside observer and it seemed weird that RoMeLa was basically relocated to California suddenly.
Yeah, it was rough. Professors move all the time, but usually they try to accomodate their students either by giving them some time to find other funding sources or bringing them with him. He just left.
Former Romela students also told me that he actually tried to steal Charlie when he left. Like, tried to load him onto a truck in the middle of the night kind of steal. But his former students stopped him from taking it and nothing ever came of it.
Most of the remaining students that were in Romela formed a new lab called TREC, and they are still working on a lot of the same kinds of projects, like a new shipboard firefighting robot for the Navy, called SaFFir.
Dear brownrc
This is Prof. Dennis Hong. I am sure your comments are based on direct communication with former students in RoMeLa, and I am not accusing you of making things up. However, in such events that can have a large effect on so many people, even if people make an effort to make things go smooth, there are always problems and trouble which lead to negative feelings, which often times lead to rumors. Many of them spread by people talking and some of them are very easy to verify that they are simply just rumors.
As it is I who have moved, it is I who knows the facts, and I would like to correct some of the things you have mentioned. I would be more than happy to further elaborate or explain if you have any questions or would like to further verify. My email is dhong@vt.edu.
Fact: All of my graduate students were notified at least 1 year ahead regarding the possibility of my move, but I have asked them to keep this confidential. This was to give them enough time to think and plan ahead in the case that the move becomes a reality. For those newer graduate students who joined the group, less than one year before the departure, I have disclosed of the possibility of my move and asked them if they still wish to join the lab when they were joining the group. The only 2 exceptional cases were 2 students who joined the lab while I was on international travel, but they have been given the same info via email (but not in person). For undergraduate students, only a selected few were notified in advance.
Fact: All graduate students were offered to join me and relocate. However, some were actively recruited and some were not. One tried to transfer but the transfer did not go through, some decided to change advisors, some of the students who are close to finishing decided to remain and finish up.
Fact: The very first day I have officially announced of my move, I have offered to VT to leave my research funding (and all of my equipment) to support the remaining students. It is true that some students funding got cut, but that is not because I took my funding with me. We had a very large group and there are only a finite amount of funding.
Fact: No one tried to steal anything from VT. There were no trucks and there were no middle of the night action.
The first 2 facts I have mentioned are easy to verify because it all involves the students themselves, which may include the person I assume you have communicated with. If anyone disagrees with what I have said, I would be glad to talk to anyone regarding this. The 3rd Fact was my communication with the faculty administration, but I also have the email communication regarding this with the students. The 4th fact is a fact, and I assume what you have mentioned is a rumor floating around. I would like to challenge anyone to step up and claim they actually have witness any such thing happening.
Again, it was very unfortunate how things were handled (I have my side of the story, but I do not think it is appropriate to post here in public) however, I am still proud of how I have tried to handle things appropriately and professionally. I understand that the move caused a lot of pain and have upset people (including myself) and I regret that happened. However, I assure you that (based on what you have posted) the truth about the situation is vastly different from how you might be understanding.
If you have any questions, I would be glad to chat over the phone or correspond via email. This is also important for me to clear any misunderstandings.
Thank you.
Dr. Hong
#sources
Nice reply. Thank you for providing your perspective.
wow, TKP is really getting around!
Fact: As of this post 21 hours and 50 minutes ago brownrc posted some shade on Prof Hong.
Fact: Nearly 20 hours later the aforementioned Prof Hong was on TKP refuting said shade.
which means either:
a) Prof Hong has been a lurker on TKP all along. or,
b) Prof Hong was contacted by someone reading TKP and let him know that he was getting anonymously abused on a VT fansite. Resulting in registration and direct rebuttal.
which proves....
FACT: TKP is the best Virginia Tech website on these here interwebs.
(also that Prof Hong don't play around.)
This gives me hope that the Plaid Avenger is out there lurking as well.
Dear Dr. Hong,
Will the future of robotics be more like Rosie from the Jetsons or Skynet from Terminator? I'll hang up and listen.
or Casella Reese from Cyborg 2? a ... uh... friend wants to know.
Wow Dr. Hong that was really well written.. I kinda wish I could have had you at some point! Best of luck to you
.
In more recent news, Dr. Robertson is making a push for a new state song for Virginia. You can actually place your vote through a link on this page http://www.dailypress.com/entertainment/dp-virginias-next-state-song-201...
He was one of the best orators I ever heard. The guy can hold a room and spin a yarn. He knows so much about the Civil War and I can see why he is a leader on the subject.
Sadly, they did not go with my suggestion
I was fortunate enough to be able to take Dr. Robertson's last class before his retirement. I could sit and listen to his lectures all day. Alumni and folks from the surrounding area would turn out to sit in on his class. You don't see that for just any history professor.
I'm no dietician because I love me some turkey legs but apparently a dietician at tech was one of the founding fathers of the Mediterranean diet (according to an old professor)
I was actually in Boyer's class last spring when King Abdullah II of Jordan was scheduled to come. Would have been real cool. Boyer's the man. It was a 500 person lecture in McBryde 100 and one class he bought pizza for the entire class. It was unreal.
Michael Anthony Williams, formerly of the theater department played Samuel L Jackson's body double.
This is a little sideways from the posts on this topic so far, but in my Communication Skills class in 2003-2004, it was led by the most interesting professor of my 4 years.
He started out by saying:
"Good Morning. My name is John Warner. Yes, exactly like Seanator John Warner. Yes, I have used the fact that we share the same name many times to my advantage at getting into premium restaurants in Washington DC."
Duane Brown was in our class, too.
Robertson was also brought to D.C. to help prepare for JFK's funeral....Jackie wanted a good amount of things to mirror Lincoln's funeral so they called in Bud to act as their expert on Lincoln's funeral.
Ahhh I forgot about him mentioning that. Good memory!
May I nominate Homer Hickam?
He is one of our most notable alumni, but I don't believe he ever taught here.
Roger Chang has to be responsible for many of the recent classes of engineering students making it to graduation.
Dr. Torgersen has continually taught Theory of Organization throughout his time at Virginia Tech, including his years as president. He is also the only professor I know that received a standing ovation at the end of the semester. Best class ever.
I was always amazed at how fast Chang could do calculations in his head.
The best part of Torgersen's class was just sitting there and listening to his fascinating stories. I love the one about how him picking up something he had left behind in his office turned into the media saying he singlehandedly convinced Beamer to stay.
Yup. TheoryOfO was tight.
Joseph Schetz used to hunt bears in his spare time.
Too many people on here don't understand the greatness of this comment. Proof:
http://www.huntingreport.com/trophy_images/small/221.jpg
Leon Arp...taught a biomedical engineering class even a non-engineer like me could enjoy
http://www.vtmag.vt.edu/fall12/inspiration-then-and-now.html
Shocked no one has mentioned Stefan Duma
Michael Kender used to be a "BSD" on Wall Street before he came to taught at Virginia Tech
Carla Finkielstien is one of foremost experts in breast cancer research
Don't forget Olivio Ferrari, an architecture professor for years and a great nephew of Enzo Ferrari. He was very animated and well respected.
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This guy, named Wu Feng, is a computer science professor at Tech. He was featured in a microsoft commercial about cancer research. Very cool stuff
So here's the thing: I love Virginia Tech football and I understand it's purpose within the Blacksburg community and the program being one of the main focal point of the school national narrative. At the same time, professors like Wu Feng (and the countless others professors mentioned in this thread) are real reason why Virginia Tech is such an incredible institution...I was ecstatic when I saw this thread posted up because it meant that sports are serving a higher purpose: Using the spotlight that sports has provided and shining it on the entities that actually matter.
Professors like Wu Feng make feel so blessed that I can call myself an alumnus of Virginia Tech.
I've had many of the engineering teachers mentioned above (Torg, Hong (Blind Driver Challenge), Chang, etc...) and all of them have my vote of being phenominal professors.
However, my favorite, and not yet mentioned, is Mr. Neal King of Intoduction to Sociology. I'm normally not the greatest with understanding these types of sciences, but he did an amazing job at motivating me to come to his class twice a week.
http://www.sociology.vt.edu/People/Faculty/nealking.html
I had Dr. King as well. Very good professor. Also very nice mane of red hair.
Dr. Samuel Easterling and Dr. Roberto Leon (Civil Engineering) have made significant contributions to the American Institute of Steel Construction Manual that governs the construction of almost all steel structures that are now built in the US (which is a lot). So in a way, they are partially responsible for every new steel building constructed in the US.
I believe Murray is/was as well. He also was a consultant as they were nearing completion of the AZ Cardinals Stadium (relating to vibration of the rails the field moves on). I recall him making a point to mention that they needed him asap and wanted to send their Leer Jet and he told them he had a test to administer to our class first and he'd hop on the plane thereafter.
CNN article about SAFFiR-not sure it was posted. Just happened to come across it.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/12/tech/mci-saffir-robot/index.html
E. Scott Geller in the Department of Psychology pretty much re-defined and revolutionalized the field of workplace safety. If you ever see a Safety presentation, pamphlet, or poster at your job you can be pretty sure that it is based on his work.
I could say a lot of things about this, but I think "revolutionized" is hyperbole. He has gotten a lot of buy in for concepts that used to get ignored by industrial management. Behavioral safety is a huge movement though.
I had Dr. Geller for intro Psych. One day when I was working at Kroger he came and got some sliced cheese from behind the deli counter. I mentioned that I had taken his class and how I enjoyed it. We had a nice chat, and when he asked for my name he very obviously stared down my nametag and then my face, surely his way of remembering people. I'm curious to see how well he would remember me, if at all, if I ran into him again.
I know that Sergeant Major Anderson (the freshman ROTC instructor my Rat year) has *redacted* in *redacted* with *redacted* and received the *redacted* award from *redacted*. Dude was amazing.
SGM Grace (late 90s) was both amazing and terrifying.
Jason Thweatt of the ECE department. Highest Non-Winning final amount in Jeopardy history.
Jeopardy contestant, and the conducted the best loophole abuse of a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" lifeline ever. VT trivia team advisor for years and years, if he isn't still.
Pretty sure I remember him winning the Sporn Award. Also, he's just a really good guy who cares about teaching, and about his students as people.
He was the advisor when I was a member. He stepped down a few years ago.
Not a professor, but Roger Craig (VT alum) is a boss:
#ballsofsteel
Trivia teammate with Jason. Yet another good dude. Not a prof, though he's taken a few Jeopardy contestants to school.
I had Jason for Intro to CpE.
Funny story from his class: one day, half the class just didn't show for whatever reason, so he gave a pop quiz. The quiz consisted of one question: "Write the number 'seven.'"
awesome
Peter Dolittle, a Psychology Professor at VT, has a TED talk with over 1,000,000 views: https://www.ted.com/talks/peter_doolittle_how_your_working_memory_makes_...
Great talk on Working Memory. He's pretty well known in the world.
Not a professor, but I heard a former student from VT is going on Shark Tank soon. That's pretty cool IMO.