VCU Engineering’s new dean sees a future beyond ‘tradition

For Azim Eskandarian, the future of engineering – in education and in practice – is cross-disciplinary.

“Engineering should not have traditional boundaries,” said Eskandarian, D.Sc., who joined Virginia Commonwealth University in August as the Alice T. and William H. Goodwin Jr. Dean for the College of Engineering. “Today’s engineering problems are complex, and they need solutions from different engineering disciplines. You may need elements from the physical or computing sciences, for example. And if human interaction is a factor, psychology and social sciences are also important.”

Creating an environment where faculty and students work across departments is one of Eskandarian’s main goals. The College of Engineering’s Vertically Integrated Projects provide students with an immersive experience, including collaboration outside of engineering, and he wants to grow that practice.

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