Jobs
Senior Design Instructor
The Department of Mechanical Engineering is looking for a person to serve as a faculty advisor for several senior design capstone teams, specifically the ME 4015-4016 capstone series. The successful candidate must enjoy interacting with students and have good organizational and management skills. Responsibilities will include serving as a faculty advisor for approximately 15 senior design capstone teams (with 5-7 students per team) each academic year, recruiting of industry sponsored capstone projects, and occasional opportunities to lecture on the practical elements of engineering design. Senior design faculty advisors function as the mentor, engineering manager, subject matter expert, and liaison to an industry sponsor for the teams they advise. This position may involve other duties as assigned, including oversight of lab spaces for the design teams, oversight of team budgets, and occasional travel to visit industry sponsor sites. The position does not include a research component, but there may be opportunities to publish material related to the work product of the design teams.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field
- Full-time engineering experience in designing, building, and testing mechanical and/or electromechanical systems.
- Evidence of a strong desire to teach students the practical aspects of engineering design
- Experience managing others or leading a team
Preferred Qualifications
- Graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field
- Subject matter expertise in robotics, mechanical systems, acoustics, automotive engineering, thermal-fluid systems, controls, manufacturing, or energy conversion systems.
Instructor
The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech is seeking applications for teaching faculty positions at the Instructor rank to begin August 2025. Duties will include teaching undergraduate courses in typical mechanical engineering topics such as Thermodynamics and Heat & Mass Transfer.
Instructors have a primary commitment to the instructional mission of the department, with a primary focus on undergraduate teaching, curricular and program development, and the design and integration of innovative and inclusive pedagogy.
The department currently employs 69 faculty members, including 54 tenured or tenure-track faculty, 7 collegiate faculty, and 8 instructors. The department’s teaching faculty are widely recognized for their instructional efforts, both internally at Virginia Tech and externally.
Required Qualifications
The successful candidate will have a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related discipline, with a minimum of 18 graduate semester hours of courses related to mechanical engineering.
Preferred Qualifications
- Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related discipline.
- Teaching experience as lead instructor in a university or college, especially in typical mechanical engineering undergraduate courses.
- Documented record of outstanding teaching effectiveness.