2025-2026 Academic Catalog
Welcome to Virginia Tech! We are excited that you are here planning your time as a Hokie.
Welcome to Virginia Tech! We are excited that you are here planning your time as a Hokie.
The Department of Engineering Education (ENGE) is home to General Engineering (GE) students. The department advises General Engineering (GE) students, teaches the interdisciplinary first-year engineering courses, an interdisciplinary projects course and an interdisciplinary design capstone sequence, and offers a graduate certificate and a Ph.D. in engineering education.
At the undergraduate level, the department provides the foundation for students to begin their engineering journey, preparing them for academic success in one of the degree-granting College of Engineering programs and for success as an engineer. Our Interdisciplinary Projects course helps sophomores and juniors develop a range of workplace skills, practices, and mindsets through mentored participation in interdisciplinary projects on interdisciplinary teams. The two semester Interdisciplinary Design Capstone sequence is an in-depth, hands-on educational experience that provides students the ability to create meaning, explore connections, and build knowledge and skills for their academic, professional, civic, and personal lives. Most engineering problems are interdisciplinary in nature and this course sequence provides students the opportunity to work on an interdisciplinary team during their capstone experience. At the graduate level, the department prepares scholars to advance knowledge and address significant challenges facing engineering education in careers including engineering faculty, policy makers, corporate training, university assessment and university administration.
The General Engineering (GE) program of the EngE department serves first-year students in the College of Engineering. Through EngE courses, first-year students participate in problem solving, engineering analysis and design exercises that represent the essence of the engineering profession. The courses emphasize team-based, design-oriented, hands-on experiences to develop students' concepts of engineering and engineering methods, while reinforcing the role of concurrent required courses (e.g. mathematics, English, physics). The first-year engineering courses also serve as a foundation for subsequent courses in the various engineering curricula. Coverage of engineering ethics instills a sense of the responsibilities of engineers to society. Algorithm development and computer programming develop logical thinking, provide the background for computer use in later courses, and support problem-solving skills. Visualization skills are developed through engineering graphics and modern CAD tools. Through writing and presentations, students begin to hone their professional communication skills, including audience analysis, argument development, effective writing styles, issues in collaborative writing, techniques of oral presentation, print and Web-based research, graphics for written and oral presentations, and editing.
General Engineering students have access to the Frith First-Year Makerspace run by the Engineering Education department. The Frith First-Year Makerspace is designed to support the retention and development of young engineers through hands-on learning, peer mentoring, and authentic problem-solving. Part collaboration and innovation space, part fabrication and prototyping space, and part learning laboratory, Frith is integrated into the first-year foundations of engineering courses and enables General Engineering students to learn by dissecting, designing, making, and analyzing engineering products. The Frith Makerspace houses equipment for 3D printing, laser cutting, metalworking, woodshop work, and crafts. https://enge.vt.edu/undergraduate/frith.html
All College of Engineering students must own a laptop or 2-in-1 tablet meeting the specifications posted at https://eng.vt.edu/admissions/computer-requirement.html. Students will also be required to acquire the university undergraduate and engineering software bundles allowing them to complete coursework in and out of class.
The General Engineering program introduces first-year engineering students to foundational concepts and practices in engineering, provides time and support to students as they transition to the College, and provides opportunities to investigate the College's individual degree programs and select an Engineering program best suited to their skills and interests. Upon completion of the Engineering change of major requirements, General Engineering students select a degree program and, if academically eligible, are transferred to the appropriate degree-granting department.
Entry into a degree-granting engineering department requires that students successfully complete all Engineering change of major requirements. Please see the College of Engineering catalog section titled "Required Academic Progress" for details, and visit https://eng.vt.edu/academics/undergraduate-students/resources-support/change-of-major.html for application policies and dates.
Head: E. Berger
Assistant Head for Undergraduate Programs: N.P. Pitterson
Assistant Head for Graduate Programs: W.C. Lee
Professors: E. Berger, J.M. Case, D.B. Knight, W.C. Lee, V.K. Lohani, H.M. Matusovich, L.D. McNair, and M.C. Paretti
Associate Professors: D. Bairaktarova, J.R. Grohs, A.S. Katz, T.W. Knott, N.P. Pitterson, S.L. Rodriguez, and Q. Zhu
Assistant Professors: M.V. Huerta, D. Kim, and S. Sajadi
Associate Professor of Practice: M.B. James, and N.C.T. Van Tyne
Assistant Professor of Practice: N.J. Bedard
Collegiate Assistant Professor: B.D. Chambers, T.Clarke Douglas, D.A. Gray, J.D. Ortega Álvarez, M.M. Soledad, and C. Wallwey
Senior Instructor: J.L. Lo
Advanced Instructor: C.A. Twyman
Instructor: E.H. Dogan
Professor Emeritus: O.H.Griffin
Associate Professor Emeritus: J.B. Connor, R.M. Goff, M.H. Gregg and T.D.L. Walker
Academic and Career Advisors: M. Cheatham, J. Chin, J. Elmore, D. Erb, M. Greene-Havas, A. Mullins, D. Newcomb, J. Newcomer, and A. Noble
E-mail: enge@vt.edu
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