Degrees and Programs
Our graduate programs, and the degrees each offers, are listed alphabetically below. We also list our non-degree granting interdisciplinary graduate education programs. All graduate students also must complete the Graduate School's scholarly ethics and integrity requirement and the inclusion and diversity requirement.
Visit the 2024-25 Graduate Catalog for general and Graduate School policies and procedures, appeals process, and listing of graduate degree-granting programs and their requirements. Links to degree-program catalog pages are also included below.
Degree-granting programs
The aerospace engineering curriculum includes the areas of aerodynamics, flight dynamics and controls, propulsion, and aerospace structures. The program culminates in a nationally recognized senior-level design sequence including analysis and design of aircraft, spacecraft, and their related technologies.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degrees: MS/ME, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg, online
Graduate Program Director: Olivier Coutier-Delgosha (ocoutier@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinators: Rachel Saville (saville@vt.edu); Audri Cunningham (audrinc@vt.edu)
The Department offers graduate studies leading to a M.S. in Agricultural and Applied Economics and a Ph.D. in Economics. Graduate students will find several economic areas of study to pursue. At the master’s level, students can select between an applied economics focus and a focus on agribusiness. At the Ph.D. level, students can dive deeper into the fields of applied econometrics, environmental and natural resource economics, international development and trade, food and health economics, and rural and regional development.
Home college: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
(Ph.D. jointly with College of Science's Department of Economics)
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Chunbei Wang (chunbeiwang@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Amy Guerin (abguerin@vt.edu)
This program offers concentrations in the areas of education, environmental science, food safety and biosecurity, leadership studies, and plant science and pest management for agriculture professionals seeking a master's degree.
Home college: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Degree: MS
Location: Online
Graduate Program Director: Jennifer Jones (jejone18@vt.edu)
The Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education at Virginia Tech offers the Agriculture and Extension Education doctoral and master's degrees and is committed to preparing students for success in professions that include formal and non-formal teaching and learning in agriculture, as well as skills for leading agricultural organizations and communities.
Home college: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Degree: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg, online
Graduate Program Director: Kim Niewolny (niewolny@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Michelle L. Greaud (mgreaud@vt.edu)
ASPECT is an innovative interdisciplinary and theoretical Ph.D. program located on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. ASPECT fosters a critical engagement between domains of inquiry in the humanities, the social sciences, and the arts. The official name for the Ph.D. is Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural thought.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Degree: Ph.D. (Interdisciplinary)
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Directors: Director: Brian Britt (bbritt@vt.edu); Christine Labuski (chrislab@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Tamara Sutphin (tsutphin@vt.edu)
The Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences at Virginia Tech offers the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. Students may specialize in the areas of genetics, genomics, immunology, management, muscle biology, nutrition, physiology, and product quality assurance.
Home college: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
School: School of Animal Sciences
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Alan Ealy (ealy@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Sasha Simpkins (sashas5@vt.edu)
Architecture enriches our lives by offering us environments that are sensibly compelling, thought provoking, and capable of lifting our spirits. In addition to being beautiful, architecture is, by ancient definition, functional and durable. Like art, architecture is permeated by dualities. It is stable and transitory, measurable and immeasurable, and capable of both being touched and touching us. Like science, architecture involves systematic study. Its methods are iterative, experimental, and rely on intense observation.
Home college: College of Architecture, Arts, and Design
Degrees: MS, MArch
Locations: Blacksburg, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area
Graduate Program Director: Kay Edge (kedge@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Wendy Vaughn (vaughnw@vt.edu)
There are two major tracks within the Ph.D. in Architecture and Design Research degree program, each of which has topical areas. Both provide significant flexibility for each student to develop a plan of study consistent with his or her academic goals. The two tracks are Architecture and Design Research.
Home college: College of Architecture, Arts, and Design
Degree: Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area
Graduate Program Directors: Kay Edge (kedge@vt.edu); James Jones (jajone10@vt.edu); Paul Emmons (pemmons@vt.edu), Alexandria, Virginia campus
Graduate Program Coordinator: Wendy Vaughn (vaughnw@vt.edu)
The Graduate Program in the Department of Biochemistry at Virginia Tech prepares students for careers as independent researchers in biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, biotechnology, and related areas.
Home college: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Degrees: MS, MSLFS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Justin Lemkul (jalemkul@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Sheila Early (smearly@vt.edu)
Graduate students, in consultation with Major Advisors, design programs of study that include cutting edge research, courses that support their particular interests, and at least one semester of a teaching experience. Opportunities for research span the biological disciplines from molecular biology to ecosystems ecology and may include computational, experimental, empirical, theoretical, and/or applied approaches.
Home college: College of Science
Degrees offered: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Daniela Cimini, (cimini@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Kate Trainque (ktrainqu@vt.edu).
The mission of the Biological Systems Engineering Department is to develop and disseminate engineering knowledge and practices that protect natural resources and improve sustainable production, processing, and utilization of biological materials.
Home colleges: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Engineering
Degrees: MS/ME, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Cully Hession (chession@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Liza Spradlin (lizaas14@vt.edu)
The Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering & Sciences (SBES) is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional graduate program that bridges engineering, science and medicine.
Home: College of Engineering
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Locations: Blacksburg, Roanoke, Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Graduate Program Director: Yong Woo Lee (ywlee@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Kelsey Wall (kelseys1@vt.edu)
The goal of our program is to provide the students with a sound background in the basic and clinical sciences and to cultivate the ability to apply rigorous scientific thinking to advanced biomedical and veterinary sciences.
A basic philosophy of graduate education in biomedical and veterinary sciences is flexibility. Programs of study - courses, laboratory and field research, clinical experiences, and teaching opportunities - are tailored to meet the individual student's needs, depending on academic background, professional experience and career goals.
Home college: Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Locations: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Audry Ruple (aruple@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Andrea Green (greena15@vt.edu)
At the Master's degree level, the Building Construction curriculum prepares students with the professional capabilities to critically address present and evolving needs of the construction industry.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degree: MS
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Tanyel Bulbul (tanyel@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Brandy Barrow (bbratton@vt.edu)
The Department offers a world class accounting and information systems education to our students. Our Master of Accounting and Information Systems (MACIS) program prepares students for professional careers with specializations in accounting analytics, audit, financial services, information systems, and taxation. The Ph.D. in Business program with a major in Accounting and Information Systems helps the student prepare for a career in college and university teaching and research.
Home college: Pamplin College of Business
Degrees: MACIS, PhD (business)
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Directors: Sarah Stein (sestein@vt.edu); Nadia Rogers for Master's Degree (narogers@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Darian Rai (dlrunion@vt.edu)
Pamplin offers two MBA programs: Evening and Online MBA. Both are designed for working professionals. The college also offers a master of science in business administration degree with concentrations in business analytics, global business analytics, marketing, and hospitality and tourism management. In addition, there is an online master of information technology degree offered as an interdisciplinary degree program with the College of Engineering.
Home college: Pamplin College of Business
Degree: MBA, MS
Locations: Richmond, Roanoke, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area, Virtual
Graduate Program Directors: Dana Hansson (dhansson@vt.edu), online and evening MBA programs; Kristin Lamoureux (kristinl@vt.edu) and Jackson Lassiter (jrlassiter@vt.edu), MS in Business Administration with concentration in Hospitality and Tourism Management; Joseph Winkeler (jwinkeler@vt.edu), MS in Business Administration with a concentration in Business Analytics; Linda Christie (lchristie@vt.edu) and Karen Wrightsman (karenw23@vt.edu), MS in Business Administration with a concentration in Global Business Analytics
Graduate Program Coordinator: Revé Vorsky (randerko@vt.edu)
This degree concentration is designed to serve experienced executives seeking the advanced knowledge and skills needed to conduct high quality research on emerging business issues. Tailored for working professionals, this three-year part-time program provides students with an in-depth understanding of the scholarly literature in their chosen business discipline, training in relevant analytical research techniques, and experience in conducting original research embodied in a dissertation addressing a complex business problem.
Home college: Pamplin College of Business
Degree: Ph.D.
Location: Greater Washington, D.C. metro area
Graduate Program Director: Chitvan Trivedi (chitvan@vt.edu)
The program offers specialized study in information technology, business analytics, decision support systems, and operations and supply chain management. The program emphasizes the study of technologies used in the creation, storage, exchange, analysis, and use of information in its various forms, and also emphasizes the related disciplines of mathematical optimization, stochastic processes, computer simulation, artificial intelligence, and statistics. Study of these topics requires that the student have a strong background in mathematics and computing.
Home college: Pamplin College of Business
Degrees: Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Paul Lowry (paul.lowry.phd@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Adrienne Sable (asable@vt.edu)
The master's degree program is designed for students who wish to undertake specialized training in finance.
The doctoral program in finance is research-oriented and designed to prepare students for successful academic careers in research and teaching.
Home college: Pamplin College of Business
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Directors: Roger Edelen (edelenr@vt.edu); Jin Xu (xujin@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Karah Hayes (karahhayes@vt.edu)
The Ph.D. in Business with hospitality and tourism management focus emphasizes the research applications of business concepts and strategies to hospitality and tourism management, helping students develop the knowledge and research skills to address the critical challenges and problems faced by hospitality and tourism businesses.
The newly designed master of science in business administration, with a concentration in hospitality and tourism management is offered in the National Capital Region.
Home college: Pamplin College of Business
Degrees: MS, Ph.D. (business)
Location: Blacksburg, Greater Washington D.C. metro area
Graduate Program Directors: Kristin Lamoureux (kristinl@vt.edu), MSBA; Eojina Kim (eojina@vt.edu), Ph.D.
Graduate Program Coordinators: Phil Xiang (philxz@vt.edu; Brent Bowden (brbowden@vt.edu)
The Ph.D. program in Business Administration with a major in Management dedicated to preparing students who will be among the next generation of research faculty at top academic institutions.
Our approach to doctoral education is unique. We emphasize preparation of students in ways that allow them to understand and address the whole organization, from the study of individuals and groups within organizations to how they operate strategically in the larger business environment.
Home college: Pamplin College of Business
Degrees: Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Christopher Porter (colhp@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Kara Armes (mkara@vt.edu)
We offer a focused Master of Science program with a concentration in advanced marketing research, and a Doctoral Program designed to develop graduates who assume positions as faculty members in research-oriented schools of business.
Home college: Pamplin College of Business
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Mario Pandelaere (mpand@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Sonja Crockett (scrocket@vt.edu)
Graduate plans of study in chemical engineering are heavily oriented toward synthesis as well as analysis. There are strong threads of physics, chemistry, mathematics, biochemistry, and microbiology in much of the research in the department. Active research areas include polymer chemistry, polymer science and engineering, colloid and surface chemistry, solid state chemistry and physics, nanotechnology, applied thermodynamics, molecular modeling, biochemical and tissue engineering, biomaterials, nanomedicine, catalysis and surface science, design for sustainability, green engineering, computer-aided design, and supercritical fluid science and technology.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degrees: MS/ME, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Chang Lu (changlu@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Carrie Hopkins (carrieh7@vt.edu)
The Chemistry Department is consistently top-ranked among its peers in terms of degree production and research expenditures. Our 30 faculty members and 170 graduate students generate over 100 peer-reviewed publications per year and have earned numerous prestigious awards for research, teaching, and outreach. In addition to the major areas of chemistry (analytical, inorganic, organic, and physical), our polymer chemistry program has been ranked among the top 5, and we have highly developed programs in several interdisciplinary areas, including drug discovery, computational and theoretical chemistry, surface science, renewable energy, and chemical biology.
Home college: College of Science
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Alan Esker (aesker@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Joli Huynh (jolih@vt.edu)
The Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, which is ranked in the top 10 accredited civil and environmental engineering departments by the US News and World Report, is one of the largest programs in the United States.
For the civil engineering graduate degrees, students may emphasize one or more of 10 discipline areas within the Department: civil engineering materials, civil infrastructure engineering, construction engineering and management, environmental engineering, geospatial engineering, geotechnical engineering, hydrosystems engineering, structural engineering, and transportation engineering.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degrees: MS/ME, Ph.D.
Locations: Blacksburg, Hampton Roads, Roanoke, Richmond, Southwest Virginia, Online
Graduate Program Director: Carin Roberts-Wollmann (wollmann@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Sarah Martin (shmartin@vt.edu)
The M.A. in Communication prepares graduates to pursue communication doctoral studies, research positions in communication industries, and advanced teaching or professional careers. This thesis program blends social-scientific and humanistic research and communication theory in public advocacy (campaigns and strategic communication) and media effects, policy, and issues.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
School: School of Communication
Degrees: MA
Location: Blacksburg, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area
Graduate Program Director: Cayce Myers (mcmyers@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Kimberly Garnand (Kimberlygarnand@vt.edu)
As the fourth largest Electrical and Computer Engineering department in the United States, we offer strong education and research opportunities in diverse areas, including computers, control systems, communications, electronics, electromagnetics, and power.
A collaborative atmosphere and interdisciplinary efforts are hallmarks of the department's research programs, and the 35+ research groups, centers, and laboratories grow in reputation each year.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degrees: MS/ME, Ph.D.
Locations: Blacksburg, Hampton Roads, Greater Washington D.C. metro area, Roanoke, Richmond, Southwest Virginia, Online
Graduate Program Director: Paul Plassmann (plassmann@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinators: Nicole Sutphin (nsutphin@vt.edu) MS non-thesis students; Rebecca Stevenson (rss03@vt.edu) MEng students; Lisa K. Burns (lkburns@vt.edu) MS Thesis, Direct-Ph.D. & Ph.D. Advisor (Last names N-Z); Laura Villada (vlaura@vt.edu) MS Thesis, Direct-Ph.D. and Ph.D. Advisor (Last names A-M)
The graduate program in the Department of Computer Science at Virginia Tech is on its way to becoming one of the top programs in the country. The resources and facilities for research areas such as human-computer interaction, bioinformatics, and high-end computing are state of the art, and the growing list of specialized masters and doctoral degrees in a variety of areas provides opportunities for students to concentrate their research and study on the specific aspects of computer science in which they are most interested.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degrees: MS, MEng, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area
Graduate Program Directors: Sara Hooshangi (shoosh@vt.edu); Eli Tilevich (tilevich@vt.edu); Sara Coulson (sara83@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinators: Samantha Pipkin (samanthap@vt.edu); Sharon Kinder-Potter (skpotter@vt.edu); Klaudia Escobar (kescobar10@vt.ed)
The Master in Fine Arts in Creative Technologies is a terminal degree program that prepares students to use digital and new media technologies to create, present, communicate and shape information and imagery. The program addresses emerging trends in scientific and research arenas, art and design, and industrial/commercial contexts.
Home college: College of Architecture, Arts, and Design
School: School of Visual Arts (SOVA)
Degrees: MFA
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Directors: Zach Duer (zachduer@vt.edu); Thomas Tucker (thomastj@vt.edu)
The three-year MFA program offers tracks in poetry and fiction. We encourage cross-genre experimentation through workshops in new media creative writing, playwriting, and creative non-fiction. Students also gain extensive teaching experience. Home college College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Degrees: MFA
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Matthew Vollmer (vollmer@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Marie Trimmer (mtrimmer@vt.edu)
As a department with strong expertise in both environmental and agronomic (crops and soils) sciences, we are committed to improving present and future health and livelihoods through a deeper understanding of processes involving living organisms, soil, and water across a range of managed and degraded ecosystems. We focus strong expertise in agronomy, plant genetics and breeding, soil science, water quality, landscape restoration, and nutrient and waste management on the improvement of agroecosystem productivity, the discovery of important processes, the restoration of essential functions, and on improving management of ecosystem services in a wide variety of rural and urban landscapes.
Home college: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Benjamin Tracy (bftracy@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Sally Shupe (sashupe@vt.edu)
Our graduate students have diverse backgrounds and research interests including genetics, reproduction, nutrition, immunology, management, and lactation. All have the opportunity to gain classroom teaching experience and to participate in extension education programs in addition to their involvement in research programs at the forefront of nutrition, management, physiology, infectious disease, immunology, and metabolic modeling.
Home college: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
School: School of Animal Sciences
Degrees: MSLFS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Benjamin Corl (bcorl@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Sasha Simpkins (sashas5@vt.edu)
The Master of Arts in Data Analysis and Applied Statistics is offered by Virginia Tech’s Department of Statistics. The degree is also sponsored by other programs and departments including the Education Research and Evaluation Program (EDRE), the Departments of Psychology, Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Geography, Economics, Human Development, Sociology, Psychology, Biological Sciences, and the Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology program.
The curriculum provides a broad variety of applied statistical tools to students, without the emphasis on statistical theory steeped in mathematics. The M.A. DAAS degree is structured so that certain courses that emphasize the fundamentals of statistics, are required. Electives in specialized topics in statistics are then be chosen by the student. Thus, the degree offers sufficient depth in the fundamentals of contemporary applied statistical methods and gives students an understanding of how these methods are applied indifferent fields.
College: Science
Degree: MA
Location: Blacksburg, Greater Washington D.C. metro area
Graduate Program Director: Tom Woteki (drwo@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Christina Dillon (chconne1@vt.edu)
The Department of Economics at Virginia Tech focuses on teaching, research and outreach in regard to economic issues at the state, national and international levels.
Home College: College of Science
Degree: Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Niloy Bose (nbose@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Will Bebout Jr. (wibebout@vt.edu)
The Career and Technical Education program is among the top programs in the United States.
The program is designed to prepare individuals for careers in career and technical education and to enhance the professional development of current career and technical educators.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
School: School of Education
Degrees: MSED, Ed.S.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Natalie Ferand (nferand@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Lori Sharp (llsharp@vt.edu)
The Virginia Tech Counselor Education Program prepares professional counselors, counselor educators, and leaders in the counseling field with a professional identity that incorporates the intentional use of strength-based approaches, reflective practice, innovative and evidence-based strategies, and ongoing research to support and enhance our schools and communities.
Home college: College of Arts and Human Sciences
School: School of Education
Degrees: MAED, EDS, EDD, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg, Roanoke
Graduate Program Director: Matt Fullen (mfullen@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Kathy Tickle (ktickle@vt.edu)
The Curriculum and Instruction graduate degrees are offered by 14 programs included in two departmental units in the School of Education. See below for links to the different programs.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
School: School of Education
Degrees: MAED, Ed.S., Ed.D., Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg, Online
Graduate Program Director: Nancy Bradley (nbradley@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Casey Walker (caseywalker@vt.edu)
Program webpages:
Career and Technical Education (Ed.D., Ph.D.)
Educational Psychology (M.A.Ed., Ed.S., Ph.D.)
Elementary Education (M.A.Ed.,Ed.S., Ed.D., Ph.D.)
English Education (M.A.Ed., Ed.S., Ed.D., Ph.D.)
Foundations of Education (Ph.D.)
History and Social Science Education (M.A.Ed., Ph.D.)
Instructional Design and Technology (M.A.Ed., Ed.S., Ph.D.)
Integrative STEM Education (Ph.D., Ed.D., M.A.)
Mathematics Education (M.A.Ed., Ed.S.,Ph.D.)
Music Education (M.A.Ed., Ed.D.)
Reading Specialist/ Literacy (M.A.Ed., Ed.S.)
Science Education (M.A.Ed., Ed.D., Ph.D.)
This is a graduate program developed by Virginia Tech to prepare educational administrators for leadership roles in school systems and related agencies.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
School: School of Education
Degrees: MAED, Ed.S., Ph.D., Ed.D.
Location: Blacksburg; Hampton Roads; Greater Washington, D.C. metro area; Richmond; Roanoke; Southwest Virginia; Virtual
Graduate Program Directors: Jodie Brinkmann (sammy@vt.edu) for Master's/Ed.S; Charles Lowery (loweryc@vt.edu) for Ed.D/Ph.D.
Graduate Program Coordinator: Kathy Tickle (ktickle@vt.edu)
The Educational Research and Evaluation program offers doctoral preparation in the areas of measurement, program evaluation, qualitative research methods, and statistics as they are applied in educational and other behavioral sciences.
Graduates of the program are prepared for academic positions as research methodologists, corporate positions in research and testing agencies, or government positions as researchers, evaluators, or administrators of research programs in education or other areas of the behavioral sciences.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
School: School of Education
Degree: Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: David Kniola (dkniola@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Kathy Tickle@vt.edu
This program is not accepting new students.
The Higher Education and Student Affairs graduate degree programs focus on preparing leaders for postsecondary education who use and produce high-impact research as part of their practice and who are committed to service in both professional and personal contexts
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
School: School of Education
Degrees: MAED, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Directors: Chase Catalano (ccatalano@vt.edu), Ph.D. program in Higher Education; Sharrika Adams (davissd@vt.edu), MAEd. program in Higher Education and Student Affairs
Graduate Program Coordinator: Kathy Tickle (ktickle@vt.edu)
From pervasive computing to smart power systems, Virginia Tech Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) faculty and students delve into all major areas of electrical and computer engineering. As one of the country's larger ECE departments, we offer strong education and research opportunities in diverse areas, including computers, control systems, communications, electronics, electromagnetics, and power.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degrees: MS/ME, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg, Hampton Roads, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area, Richmond, Roanoke, Southwest Virginia, and online
Graduate Program Director: Paul Plassmann (plassmann@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinators: Graduate Program Coordinators: Nicole Sutphin (nsutphin@vt.edu) MS non-thesis students; Rebecca Stevenson (rss03@vt.edu) MEng students; Lisa K. Burns (lkburns@vt.edu) MS Thesis, Direct-Ph.D. & Ph.D. Advisor (Last names N-Z); Laura Villada (vlaura@vt.edu) MS Thesis, Direct-Ph.D. and Ph.D. Advisor (Last names A-M)
We are one of the first departments in the country to offer graduate programs in Engineering Education. Our graduate program incorporates theory with real life application so our students are prepared to be teachers and scholars in the evolving field of Engineering Education.
Graduates of the program will be able to conduct and direct research in engineering education; develop, review, and critique effective research designs; effectively teach engineering subjects; design and assess engineering courses; and address critical issues facing engineering education.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degree: Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Andrew Katz (akatz4@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Mara Knott (knott@vt.edu)
The Engineering Mechanics (EM) program provides a strong foundation and sturdy framework for the discovery, development, transfer, and implementation of new knowledge in the areas of mechanics of materials and material systems, fluid mechanics, dynamics and vibration, biomechanics, and computational and experimental methods.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degrees: MS/ME, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Mark Stremler, (stremler@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Renee Cloyd (rcloyd@vt.edu)
The MA program is focused upon the theoretical and practical aspects of evaluating texts and analyzing language in all its aspects. Special attention is paid to the critique and production of digital discourse.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Degrees: MA
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Directors: Katharine Cleland (kcleland@vt.edu), Graduate Studies and MA program; Kelly Pender (pender@vt.edu), Ph.D. program in Writing and Rhetoric; Matthew Vollmer (vollmer@vt.edu), MFA Program
Graduate Program Coordinator: Marie Trimmer (mtrimmer@vt.edu)
The Department of Entomology provides professional expertise concerning arthropods to the commonwealth, the nation, and the world.
The department has three major focus areas: Biomedical Research, with emphasis on insect genomics and urban/public health, including mosquito biology and vector control as they affect urban and public health, and human and animal disease; Natural/Agro Ecosystems Research, with emphasis on IPM/Biological Control of pest problems, and environmental monitoring and protection; and Urban Entomology and Pesticide Safety Education.
Home college: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Degrees: MSLFS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Scott Salom (salom@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Kathy Shelor (kshelor@vt.edu)
The Environmental Design and Planning program prepares students with the professional and academic skills to address the challenges of creating and maintaining tomorrow's built environment. The degree offers the opportunity for advanced study and research in specialized areas relating to building design, construction, operations, and end-of-life-cycle, providing the basis to contribute to the construction field from positions in either industry or academia.
Home college: College of Engineering
School: Myers-Lawson School of Construction
Degree: Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Tanyel Bulbul (tanyel@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Brandy Barrow (bbratton@vt.edu)
The Environmental Engineering program goals are to educate and prepare engineers for careers in the various fields of environmental engineering design, water supply management, site remediation, environmental modeling, pollution control engineering, water resources engineering, and public health protection.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degree: MS
Location: Blacksburg, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area
Graduate Program Director: Carin Roberts-Wollmann (wollmann@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Sarah Martin (shmartin@vt.edu)
The Environmental Science and Engineering program is designed to prepare students with a science background to work with engineers in various fields, including water supply, wastewater management, public health, watershed management, stream protection, groundwater remediation, and air resource management
Home college: College of Engineering
Degree: MS
Location: Blacksburg, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area
Graduate Program Director: Carin Roberts-Wollmann (wollmann@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Sarah Martin (shmartin@vt.edu)
The Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation offers one of the leading programs of its type. The comprehensive curriculum covers fisheries and wildlife biology and ecology, habitat analysis, and human dimensions of natural resource science and management.
Home college: College of Natural Resources and Environment
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Marcella Kelly (Makelly2@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Jennifer Phillips (jewolfor@vt.edu)
Food science and technology is a fusion of chemistry, microbiology and engineering. Our researchers explore innovation in the areas of creating new, healthful food products, and ensuring a safe and tasty food supply.
Specific research emphases include: improving food nutrition, quality and flavor, developing novel functional food ingredients and products for promoting human health, packaging design and use of advanced technologies to identify and control food-borne disease causing organisms.
Individual graduate programs are customized with the advisor to emphasize food safety/microbiology, biochemistry, food chemistry, or packaging.
Home college: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Joe Eifert (jeifert@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Donna Eastwood (ddolgos@vt.edu)
This program is designed to meet the needs of students seeking academic and other professional careers in contexts that require intercultural competency as well as a specialized knowledge of Spanish and/or French.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Degree: MA
Location: Blacksburg, online
Graduate Program Director: Jessica Folkart (jfolkart@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Adrianne Carter (ajc07n@vt.edu)
Program pages:
The Forestry and Forest Products program offers Master of Science (M.S.), Master of Forestry (M.F.), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees under two distinct focus areas: Forestry, overseen by the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation (FREC), and Forest Products, overseen by the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials (SBIO).
Forestry: The Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation is one of the top programs in the science and management of natural resources in the United States. Graduate training in our department offers a unique opportunity to explore diverse natural resource issues from multiple disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives. From the foundational science that underpins our understanding of the world, to its application for multiple management objectives, we seek to discover new knowledge and technology to address societal challenges from local to global scales.
Forest Products: The Department of Sustainable Biomaterials provides education and research opportunities in the areas of sustainable biomaterials, spanning the range from nanotechnology and the basic science of wood and other renewable materials, through processing, manufacturing, marketing, management, and competition in biomaterials industries. Additional areas of study include bio-composites and adhesives, design of commercial and residential structures, bio-polymers, sustainability analytics, industrial ecology, and packaging systems. The packaging program is ranked among the top five in the nation. Graduates of our programs have successful careers in public and private research organizations and universities as well as business sectors including forest products, construction, packaging, bioenergy, and distribution/logistics.
Home College: College of Natural Resources and Environment
Degrees: MS/MF, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Directors: Brian Strahm, Forestry (bstrahm@vt.edu); Robert Bush, Forest Products (rbush@vt.edu)
Program websites:
The Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology (GBCB) program was established in 2003. Its goal is to provide an educational environment that enables students to apply quantitative methods in computer science, mathematics, and statistics to all areas of the life sciences. To facilitate this experience, students choose one of the program tracks (life sciences, computer science, mathematics, statistics) as their primary track, with the other areas as secondary tracks.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program
Degree: Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Liwu Li (lwli@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Dennie Munson (dennie@vt.edu)
The M.S. degree develops specialists for academic, agency, and industry positions through emphasis on geographic analysis, identifying debates and gaps in the current literature to define an original research question, and conducting research, collecting primary or secondary data, defending and presenting findings in publishable form. The interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Geospatial and Environmental Analysis focuses on research involving Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the Global Positioning System (GPS), remote sensing, and imagery analysis.
Home college: College of Natural Resources and Environment
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Andrew Ellis (awellis@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Karen Bland (kbland@vt.edu)
Virginia Tech's Department of Geosciences focuses on research, education, and outreach dealing with the nature of the earth. Our students and faculty investigate earth processes at scales that range from atomic to planetary.
Home college: College of Science
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Brian Romans (romans@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: April Newcomer (apriln@vt.edu)
The interdisciplinary doctoral program in Geospatial and Environmental Analysis focuses on the application of geospatial analysis for improving the science, management, and conservation of natural resources and the environment. Based in the College of Natural Resources and Environment, the program draws upon the expertise of faculty from the Departments of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Geography, Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, and Wood Science and Forest Products, as well as from those in departments in other colleges, including Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Biological Systems Engineering.
Home college: College of Natural Resources and Environment
Degree: Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Directors: Yang Shao (yshao@vt.edu) and Tom Pingel (tpingel@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Karen Bland (kbland@vt.edu)
The analysis of government and international affairs during the 21st century clearly constitutes a complex and interdisciplinary set of challenges. To be effective, such study requires knowledge from all of the social sciences and humanities.
The Public and International Affairs master's degree program draws insights from these areas of learning into the multidimensional study of governance processes in all levels of society and international affairs.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
School: School of Public and International Affairs
Degrees: MPIA
Location: Blacksburg; Greater Washington, D.C. metro area
Graduate Program Director: Ariel Ahram (ahram@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Elia Amegashie (elia@vt.edu)
The program provides students with advanced training in the professional practice of historical research and pedagogy. The program serves three primary constituencies: students preparing for further graduate work at the doctoral level, those who wish to become secondary school educators, and those planning for careers in a range of public history fields.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Degree: MA
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Melanie Kiechle (mkiechle@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Cammie Sgarrella (csgarrella@vt.edu)
The Department of Horticulture has an active graduate program and also participates in multiple interdisciplinary graduate groups.
Home college: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Degree: Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Benjamin Tracy (bftracy@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Sally Shupe (sashupe@vt.edu)
All graduate programs in the Department of Human Development and Family Science integrate research-based knowledge with human-based values.
We promote the quality of life of our society's most basic elements—individuals, families, and communities. We value collaboration, inclusion, equity, empowerment, passion, and celebration in our work.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area
Graduate Program Director: Erika Grafsky (erikagrafsky@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Marty Wyatt (martywyatt@vt.edu)
Program option pages:
Child and Adolescent Development
Marriage and Family Therapy (Ph.D.)
Marriage and Family Therapy (M.S., at the Northern Virginia Center)
We offer one of the few graduate programs in the country that combines nutrition, foods, and exercise and emphasizes translational research. Our mission is to discover, translate, and disseminate health-related advances in the nutrition, food, and exercise sciences.
The work of the faculty and graduate students in our department contributes significantly to scientific progress through molecular and clinical advances leading to prevention and improved treatment of obesity and chronic diseases; behavioral discoveries that lead to effective intervention programs for youth and adults; and interdisciplinary research teams who speed the translation of scientific discoveries to effective therapeutic and public health interventions that will benefit Virginians and the nation.
Home college: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Degrees: MS, MSND, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Rodney Gaines (rgaines@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Curtis Cox (ccurtis8@vt.edu)
The Individual Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program (iPhD) is designed to prepare exceptional graduate students who wish to pursue and attain an individually customized interdisciplinary doctoral degree. The purpose of the iPhD is to provide an option for highly qualified students whose educational goals are uniquely interdisciplinary and cannot be met by a single discipline from a degree granting academic unit at Virginia Tech. The iPhD offers a distinctive opportunity for students seeking a breadth of knowledge, in addition to disciplinary depth, not available within one discipline. The iPhD program is intended for doctoral training requiring participation, collaboration, and integration from two or more academic units representing different disciplines.
Home college: the Graduate School
Degree: Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: William Huckle (wrhuckle@vt.edu)
Industrial engineering is concerned with the design, development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated work systems comprised of people, information and knowledge, equipment, energy, materials, and processes. The industrial and systems engineering department utilizes innovative and creative practices and technologies to achieve the highest quality of instruction and student learning.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degrees: MS/ME, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg, Leesburg, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area, Hampton Roads, Richmond, Roanoke, Southwest Virginia, online
Graduate Program Director: Maury Nussbaum (nussbaum@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Hannah Parks (hsswiger@vt.edu)
Virginia Tech's Online Master of Information Technology program will put students in touch with the latest developments in information technology. This unique interdisciplinary program is offered jointly by the Pamplin College of Business and the College of Engineering. Designed for the working professional, the program’s flexible online format will help students juggle classes, professional, and family priorities.
Degrees: MIT
Location: online
Graduate Program Director: Holly Gillcash (gillcash@vt.edu)
Asst. Director Rabeya Rahman (rahmanra@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinators: Christine Aquino (cssok4@vt.edu); Ruth Hale (ruth2018@vt.edu)
The Landscape Architecture Program is committed to discovering, developing, and disseminating knowledge related to the discipline and profession of landscape architecture.
Our educational approach stresses discovery-based learning and research, wherein students assume a significant level of responsibility for directing and pursuing their own education and the development of their plan of study.
Home college: College of Architecture, Arts, and Design
Degrees: MLA, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Terry L. Clements (tclement@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Wendy Vaughn (vaughnw@vt.edu)
The Agriculture and Life Sciences master of science degree program has seven areas of concentration:
- Agriculture and Extension Education
- Location: Blacksburg, Virtual
- Graduate Catalog page
- Program webpage
- Biochemistry
- Location: Blacksburg
- Graduate Catalog page
- Program webpage
- Dairy Science
- Location: Blacksburg
- Graduate Catalog page
- Program webpage
- Entomology
- Location: Blacksburg
- Graduate Catalog page
- Program webpage
- Food Science and Technology
- Location: Blacksburg
- Graduate Catalog page
- Program webpage
- Horticulture
- Location: Blacksburg
- Graduate Catalog page
- Program webpage
- Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science
- Location: Blacksburg
- Graduate Catalog page
- Program webpage
Home college: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Agriculture and Life Sciences Graduate Catalog
Location: Blacksburg
Degree: MS
The Macromolecular Science and Engineering graduate programs are interdepartmental, intercollegiate graduate degrees focused on polymer science and engineering.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Abby Whittington (awhit@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Administrator: Kim Felix (kfelix@vt.edu)
This cross-disciplinary degree with two interrelated emphases shares common intellectual issues and employment goals. Material culture is the study of material or physical objects, as well as the placement of those objects in critical, theoretical and historical perspectives as the products of distinct cultures. Public humanities bridges the divide between academia and the public by encouraging dialogue between scholars and communities on cultural and social issues. This program prepares graduates to interpret material culture and engage communities with humanities issues within informed historical/cultural frameworks, so they are prepared for a wide range of careers in museums, historical societies, and community and cultural organizations.
Home college: College of Architecture, Arts, and Design
School: School of Visual Arts (SOVA)
Degrees: MA
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Directors: Michell Moseley Christian (mymc@vt.edu); Aaron Ansell (aansell@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Ray Callahan (rcallah@vt.edu)
The Materials Science and Engineering programs offer emphasize teaching and research in metals, ceramics, polymers, electronic materials, biomaterials, and composites.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degrees: MS/ME, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: William Reynolds (reynolds@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Kim Grandstaff (grandska@vt.edu)
The Department of Mathematics at Virginia Tech offers a range of degree programs intended to educate qualified students in the burgeoning world of advanced mathematics, and to prepare them for careers in its use and development. New mathematically related career paths continue to emerge as our technology-based economy evolves, while some traditional ones seem to be declining. Those pursuing careers in teaching will need to prepare their own students to meet the challenges of this changing world. We believe that the best way to prepare for the future is to develop a foundation from which graduates can build careers in many directions, gain some experience with how a specialty is built on those foundations, and learn to use the most up-to-date tools.
Home college: College of Science
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Andy Norton (norton3@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Sadie Powell (spowell75@vt.edu)
The program seeks to engage outstanding graduate students and faculty researchers to expand the range of knowledge in the mechanical engineering discipline.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degrees: MS/ME, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area, Hampton Roads
Graduate Program Directors: Danesh Tafti (dtafti@vt.edu) andAllison Jones (arjones@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Cathy Hill (hillcath@vt.edu)
The Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering offers advanced graduate degrees designed to educate students for high-level challenges in industry, academia, and government. Graduate work may be pursued in several areas of specialization, including rock mechanics, ground control, systems analysis, health and safety, mineral and coal processing, applied surface and colloid chemistry, conservation and the environment, mining ventilation, computer modeling/simulation, automation and control, and reservoir/natural gas/shale gas engineering.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degrees: MS/ME, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Emily Sarver (esarver@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Michelle Crotto (mcrotto@vt.edu)
The Master of Natural Resources degree programs prepare students for employment and career opportunities in environmental conservation and sustainability development, especially new jobs emerging in an increasingly global, urban, and interconnected world.
Home college: College of Natural Resources and the Environment
Degrees: MNR
Location: Greater Washington, D.C. metro area, online
Graduate Program Directors: David Robertson (davidrobertson@vt.edu); Kieran Lindsey (klindsey@vt.edu); Emily Talley (emtalley@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Amanda Tai (amandatai@vt.edu)
Our Ph.D. students will apply the fundamentals of brain functioning in states of health and disease to new neuroscience discovery. We aim to provide students with a deep understanding of the structure and function of the brain and nervous system, the brain in healthy and diseased states across the lifespan, and the most relevant neurotechnology approaches and tools needed to investigate the brain and nervous system. Our students will learn how to conduct neuroscience research, how that research applies to healthy brain development and functioning, and how these processes go awry in neurological disorders.
Home college: College of Science
Degrees: Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Alicia Pickrell (alicia.pickrell@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Alexandra "Alex" Sheffield (sheffiac@vt.edu)
The nuclear engineering program at Virginia Tech is a multi-disciplinary program with activities in nuclear power, nuclear nonproliferation and security, radiation therapy and diagnostics, and nuclear policy. The program utilizes its main campus in Blacksburg, and campuses at the Virginia Tech Research Center in Arlington, Virginia, and the Center for Advanced Engineering in Lynchburg, Virginia, for offering education, research and outreach activities.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degrees: MS/ME, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area, Hampton Roads, Richmond, Southwest Virginia
Graduate Program Director: Alireza Haghighat (haghighat@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Lisa Lawson(lisarc10@vt.edu)
Ocean engineering deals with the design of ships of all types. The field is often called naval architecture. It involves fluid mechanics, propulsion, structures, vehicle dynamics, and marine engineering. The curriculum culminates in an international award-winning design sequence in which students design a complete ship.
Home college: College of Engineering
Degree: MS
Location: Blacksburg, online
Graduate Program Director: Olivier Coutier-Delgosha (ocoutier@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinators: Rachel Saville (saville@vt.edu); Audri Cunningham (audrinc@vt.edu)
The Department of Philosophy's program is one of the top terminal master of arts degree programs in philosophy in the United States. We offer core graduate training in philosophy in the broadly analytic tradition, with particular strengths in the history and philosophy of science and in ethics, social and political philosophy.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Degree: MA
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Jordan MacKenzie (jmackenzie@vt.edu) until June 30, 2024; Gil Hersch (hersch@vt.edu) as of July 1, 2024
Graduate Program Coordinator: Jin Tian Acton (jtacton3@vt.edu)
The Department of Physics offers program coursework and research leading to M.S. (thesis optional) and Ph.D. degrees. The Department has internationally recognized excellence in experimental and/or theoretical aspects of astronomical, biological, condensed matter, nuclear, and particle physics.
Home college: College of Science
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Camillo Mariani (camillo@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Betty Wilkins (bewilki2@vt.edu)
This doctoral program draws insights from the social sciences and humanities into the multidimensional study of governance processes in all levels of society and international affairs. The faculty and students work jointly to cultivate their experience, knowledge, and skill with regard to the governance practices, political institutions, social dynamics, cultural values, workplace conditions, spatial formations, historical trends, and ethical conflicts that intersect in the workings of government, business, and not-for-profit organizations.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
School: School of Public and International Affairs
Degree: Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area
Graduate Program Director: Joel Peters (peters25@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Kelly Crist (kcrist@vt.edu)
The core mission of Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology and Weed Science is to optimize plant productivity and quality by limiting the impact of biotic and abiotic stresses on the profitability of crops and other plant enterprises, as well as the impact of these stresses on natural and agricultural ecosystems.
Home college: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Benjamin Tracy (bftracy@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Sally Shupe (sashupe@vt.edu)
We prepare students to understand domestic and international affairs. Our areas of focus include national security and foreign policy, legal studies, environmental affairs, world politics and policy, global development, and international business.
We offer an online or residential master's degree program, which provides students with a firm foundation in the discipline and research methods. We offer graduate certificates in environmental politics and policy, foundations of political analysis, security studies, and information, policy, and society.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Degrees: MA
Location: Blacksburg, online
Graduate Program Director: Andrew Scerri (ajscerri@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Sarah Harvey (saharvey1@vt.edu)
Our department is dedicated to excellence, discovery, diversity of ideas and people, and the university’s motto of Ut Prosim (That I May Serve). Our outstanding faculty engage in interdisciplinary research collaborations that advance knowledge in several key areas, such as clinical science, developmental science, industrial and organizational psychology, and biological psychology. Our students immerse themselves in hands-on learning and research alongside our faculty to address a wide range of human behavior, mental processes, and societal challenges.
Home college: College of Science
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Bob Stephens (stephens@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Michelle Wooddell (mwooddel@vt.edu)
This program prepares scholars for university faculty careers, and prepares scholars and administrators for policy-making and senior management positions and it engages practitioners and graduate students in research in a range of fields.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
School: School of Public and International Affairs
Degrees: MPA, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area, Richmond
Graduate Program Director: Sharon Mastracci (smastracci@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinators: Tyler Wiltshire (wilt15@vt.edu) for Blacksburg and Virtual Campus Students; Elia Amegashie (elia@vt.edu) for Richmond and greater Washington, D.C. metro area.
The Master of Public Health (MPH) is a professional degree that prepares graduates to practice public health in local, state, regional, national, and global settings.
Home college: Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine
Degrees: MPH
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Nicole Holt (nholt@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Becky Jones (bjones57@vt.edu)
Our program focuses on rhetoric in society. We study language use and rhetorical activity in public, academic, corporate, and governmental settings in a collective effort to engage pressing social and cultural issues from the perspective of rhetoric and writing studies.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Degrees: Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Caroline Commer (ccommer@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Marie Trimmer (mtrimmer@vt.edu)
Science and Technology Studies (STS) is a growing field that draws on the full range of disciplines in the social sciences and humanities to examine the ways that science and technology shape, and are shaped by, our society, politics, and culture. We study contemporary controversies, historical transformations, policy dilemmas, and broad philosophical questions.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area
Graduate Program Director: Matthew Wisnioski (mwisnios@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Carol Slusser (slusserc@vt.edu)
Program webpages:
We focus on critical issues in the United States and the increasingly inter-connected world. A solid grounding in theory and methods constitute the core of our graduate programs. Under our broad umbrella of interests having to do with quality of life, inequality, and work and technology, students specialize in such areas as health, crime/deviance, gender, race, aging, sexuality, and culture. In addition, students may specialize in interdisciplinary Africana Studies or Women's and Gender Studies.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Micah Roos (jmroos@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Rhonda Hawley (rhondah@vt.edu)
Program pages:
Our graduate programs specialize in training students in statistical theory balanced with extensive applications including practical experience via our collaboration and consulting program. The 18-month master's degree program is a model of the time-efficient education of statisticians while the doctoral program allows candidates to specialize in General Statistical Methodology and Theory; Statistics for Business, Government, and Industry; Biostatistics; Computational Statistics; or Environmental Statistics.
Home college: College of Science
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Scotland Leman (leman@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: John DeLong (jodelong@vt.edu)
Grounded in artistic curiosity and experimentation, our Master of Fine Arts in Theatre is a three-year program providing professional training through a personalized tutorial-based curriculum. All accepted students receive an assistantship and a full tuition waiver.
Home college: College of Architecture, Arts, and Design
School: School of Performing Arts)
Degree: MFA
Location: Blacksburg
Graduate Program Director: Amanda Nelson (amandajnelson@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Michelle Raines (mtraines@vt.edu)
Our research-intensive, multidisciplinary Ph.D. program in the biomedical and health sciences emphasizes the concept of “translational science” across multiple levels of inquiry. We bring together students from the life, behavioral, physical, engineering, and computational sciences to consider today’s major health challenges.
Through an innovative interdisciplinary curriculum, this program will prepare the next generation of scientific leaders to make and translate discoveries into preventions, diagnostics, treatments, cures and healthier behaviors.
Interdisciplinary Academic Program
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
Location: Blacksburg, Roanoke
Graduate Program Directors: John Chappell (jchap@vt.edu); Michelle Theus (mtheus@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinator: Matt Walker mwalker1@vt.edu)
This program has a dual objective of training graduates for their first planning job, and more importantly instilling conceptual and critical thinking necessary for lifelong learning and career development.
Home college: College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
School: School of Public and International Affairs
Degrees: MURP
Location: Blacksburg, Greater Washington, D.C. metro area
Graduate Program Director: Todd Schenk (tschenk@vt.edu)
Graduate Program Coordinators: Kelly Crist (kcrist@vt.edu); Elia Amegashie (elia@vt.edu)
Accelerated Master's Degree Programs
Several degree-granting programs offer approved accelerated master's degree programs are for Virginia Tech undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing graduate studies at Virginia Tech. Visit the Accelerated Master's Degree Programs page to learn more.
Non-degree granting interdisciplinary graduate education research programs (IGEPS)
The following interdisciplinary programs promote and sustain interdisciplinary graduate education and research across programs and colleges. More than 300 graduate students participate in the programs annually. To learn more, visit the Interdisciplinary Graduate Education programs webpages.
Also known as BioBuild, this doctoral interdisciplinary research program answers the pressing societal need for professionals with the interdisciplinary expertise necessary to develop buildings and communities that are, in fact, bio-inspired.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program
Students earn Ph.D. degrees in their home departments
Location: Blacksburg
The Biological Transport program aims to prepare future leaders of industrial and academic research to think, collaborate, and solve problems at the intersection of the engineering and biological sciences.
The program is based on a systematic process of increasingly interdisciplinary coursework, student interaction, community development, and cross-disciplinary research experience, including ethics and professional development training.
Interdisicplinary Graduate Education Program
Students earn Ph.D. degrees in their home departments
Location: Blacksburg
The goal of this program is to define the field of Computational Tissue Engineering, wherein seamlessly intertwined computational and experimental models will drive the next generation of advances in tissue engineering. Our vision is that predictive computational models will drive novel experimental analyses of engineered tissues, while the demands of tissue engineering will inspire novel analysis frameworks in computational science.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program
Students earn Ph.D. degrees in their home departments
Location: Blacksburg
The primary goal of our collaborative effort is to prepare graduate students to become thought leaders in promoting resilience concerns in a wide variety of disciplines.
Focusing on the trans-disciplinary paradigm, our effort leverages the strengths of several world-class academic units at Virginia Tech to produce a well-rounded understanding of the full complexity of disaster risk, resilience, and mitigation.
Our approach concentrates on investigating the main drivers of vulnerabilities, recognizing their complex interactions, and generating informed risk minimization strategies.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program
Students earn Ph.D. degrees in their home departments, which must be core participating departments for this program
Location: Blacksburg
Human Centered Design is an approach to design charged with understanding the needs, wants, and limitations of end-users. This is accomplished through methodologies and practices where these considerations are integrated at every stage of the design process.
Our program creates novel learning and discovery opportunities that are needed to train the future professoriate, workforce, professionals and civic leaders.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program
Students earn Ph.D. degrees in their home departments
Location: Blacksburg
The Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program (IGEP) in Infectious Disease (ID), in collaboration with academic departments and programs, trains graduate students with a broad scientific perspective in infectious disease.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program
Students earn Ph.D. degrees in their home departments
Location: Blacksburg
The five greatest anthropogenic threats to global health and biodiversity include habitat loss, pollution, climate change, disease, and the introduction of non-native species.
The Interfaces of Global Change program addresses the multidimensional aspects of global change. Our goal is for each program Fellow to gain depth in their specific scientific area of expertise, while simultaneously gaining breadth in the multifaceted realm of global change and the science-policy interface.
Students receive their Ph.D. degree from their home department, but they focus on global change and the science-policy interface.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program
Students earn Ph.D. degrees in their home departments
Location: Blacksburg
The Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) program is an interdisciplinary program with faculty from six departments across the Virginia Tech campus as well as from the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. Incoming students may choose research projects from four research areas: Cell Signaling and Cancer, Inflammation and Immunity, Microbiology, and Neurobiology.
The vision of the MCB program is to develop and cultivate an inclusive environment that advances scientific curiosity, learning, and creativity; that values ethical conduct; that encourages community outreach and involvement; and that emboldens independent thinking and collaborations alike.
Students earn Ph.D. degrees in their home departments
Location: Blacksburg
Regenerative medicine is a medical approach that seeks to restore both structure and function of tissues lost to injury, disease or congenital defects. This field incorporates use of stem cells, proteins that stimulate healing, and engineered biomaterials to help cure diseases from diabetes to osteoarthritis.
Regenerative strategies are modeled on mechanisms drawn from embryonic development and naturally-occurring examples of regeneration. This field represents a paradigm shift in biology, medicine and biomedical engineering.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program
Students earn Ph.D. degrees in their home departments
Location: Blacksburg
In today’s changing world, Earth system research, ranging from terrestrial ecosystem processes to ionosphere dynamics, requires an integrative and broad-scale perspective. We address this need through a Remote Sensing graduate program that prepares students not only in the science of the Earth system, but also in the engineering, data analytics, and social science perspectives required for the next generation of Ph.D. scientists to work at the cutting edge of scientific inquiry.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program
Students earn Ph.D. degrees in their home departments
Location: Blacksburg
Sustainable Nanotechnology, or VT SuN, is a multi-department, interdisciplinary research center focused on advancing nanoscale science and engineering research and education with an emphasis on sustainability. We develop nanoscale technologies and leverage these technologies to help remedy global sustainability challenges in areas such as clean air and water, waste minimization, environmental remediation, food safety, and renewable energy.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program
Students earn Ph.D. degrees in their home departments
Location: Blacksburg
The Translational Obesity Research program brings together faculty and students from diverse disciplines to work together to address one of today’s most pressing public health problems: obesity prevention and treatment.
Our overarching goal is to train the next generation of obesity researchers to conduct innovative research that integrates and translates knowledge of the etiology, pathophysiology and management of obesity with behavioral, environmental, economic, and social contextual information to improve the health and well-being of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the nation.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program
Students earn Ph.D. degrees in their home departments
Location: Blacksburg
Translational Plant Science is the process through which knowledge from basic research on plant genetics and genomics is used to improve agricultural productivity. The central goals of this program are to create a new training model to prepare molecular plant scientists to function along the bench-to-marketplace pipeline, and to catalyze interdisciplinary research to address challenges in food security, plants as biofactories, and biomass.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program
Students earn Ph.D. degrees in their home departments
Location: Blacksburg
This interdisciplinary group of faculty and graduate students is united by a central focus of "Water for Health", spanning from "pipes to people." Clean water is a common topic discussed in many classrooms and research laboratories, yet the complexity of societal issues related to water shortages, purity, and quality, which influence water consumption and its role in human health, highlights the need for increased interdisciplinary dialog and problem-solving capabilities. This program unites graduate students and faculty in addressing technical and societal challenges of transforming low-quality water resources into clean water for healthy living.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program
Students earn Ph.D. degrees in their home departments
Location: Blacksburg, National Capital Region
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Graduate School
Link to the Disrupting Academic Bullying pages on the Ombuds site
