Science & Technology

Doors officially opened this week at the new home of Hillel at Virginia Tech.  These centers for Jewish student life are familiar to many college campuses across the country.  

Virginia Tech’s new Malcolm Rosenberg Hillel Center will not only be a gathering place for study and celebration, it will be a legacy for the next generation.
 

As the 2013 Masters Golf Tournament continues in Augusta, Georgia, a Roanoke College Professor of Mathematics says math is the most important skill for pros to duffers.

Ronald Minton is the author of the book, "Golf by the Numbers: How Stats, Math and Physics Affect Your Game." 

 Audio FileTab O'Neal talks with Roland Minton about math and the game of golf, from course to gear.Edit | Remove

Scientists in biological systems engineering at Virginia Tech have succeed in using xylose, a sugar found in plants to produce large quantities of hydrogen in an environmentally friendly way. 

Unlike current methods of making hydrogen gas, Associate Professor Percival Zhang’s process is done at low temperatures, uses no heavy metals and releases almost no green house gases.  His team designed an enzyme cocktail for splitting of the hydrogen.  The result is energy production at a rate of more than 100% efficiency; a level current methods do not reach.

Most educators agree that kids learn best when teachers tailor their approach, working one-on-one with students, but it’s too expensive for every child to have his or her own teacher. 

Now, however, a Virginia psychologist is hoping to create a computer that can teach individualized lessons, adjusting speed and content based on a student’s face.  

Could we create talking, thinking robots to work in our classrooms – providing individualized instruction?  Could a computer be taught to tell when a student is losing focus or getting confused?

Architects spend a fair amount of time putting pencils to paper and building small models of what they’d like to construct – but how do they know their designs will work in the real world, and what does it take to get something built.  That’s what Virginia Tech hopes to teach in a whole new way.  It’s called a Design-Build Laboratory,  it’s gaining favor at schools around the country.