BLACKSBURG - Virginia Tech will receive a federal grant to help its online graduate nuclear engineering certificate program.
Senator Jim Webb (D) says a $65,527 grant from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will help the school add two courses in Nuclear Reactor Analysis and Nuclear Fuel Cycle. The courses are needed to complete an online class list for the certificate program.
"By making strategic investments in nuclear power and other renewable energy technologies, we can effectively address our nation's energy requirements and also the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions," said Senator Webb in a news release. "Nuclear engineering training programs at universities such as Virginia Tech can help move the United States toward clean, carbon-free sources of energy and strengthen our workforce with high-paying jobs on U.S. soil," Sen. Webb added.
Virginia Tech began its nuclear engineering program back in 1956, but it went away in the late 1980s. Tech restarted the program in August of 2007 through the teaching of undergraduate and graduate engineering courses. 161 undergraduate students, and 56 graduate students had signed up for Tech's program during the Fall 2009 semester.
Sen. Webb says Tech is developing a Minor in Nuclear Engineering at the undergraduate level, and a Master's and Ph.D. degree in Nuclear Engineering at the graduate student level. The university hopes to have the degree programs available by 2012.
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