Innovation Cycle of Engineering Education and Research
Vinod K Lohani, PhD (civil)
Professor, Department of Engineering Education
Adjunct Faculty, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, USA
In this presentation, the presenter will, first, discuss his experiences of implementing curriculum
innovations, informed by an education theory, into various engineering programs at Virginia
Tech. The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech began a TabletPC/Dyknow initiative in 2006
to develop a student-centered learning environment in engineering instruction. The speaker will
share his experiences of implementing these technologies into engineering classes.
In the second part, the speaker will discuss the ongoing research at his lab (i.e., LabVIEW
Enabled Watershed Assessment System (LEWAS)) in the context of the innovation cycle of
engineering education and research. The LEWAS is a unique real-time, web-accessible water
and weather monitoring system that has been developed to enhance water sustainability
education and research at Virginia Tech. Supported by several grants from the U.S. National
Science Foundation, the LEWAS is installed at the outlet of a creek that flows through VT
campus and drains a small urbanized watershed (~3.0 km2). The system has sensors to
measure water quality and quantity data including flow rate, depth, pH, dissolved oxygen,
turbidity, conductivity, and temperature. In addition, weather parameters (temperature,
barometric pressure, relative humidity and precipitation) are measured at the LEWAS outdoor
site. These environmental parameters can be accessed by remote users in real-time through a
web-based interface. The LEWAS is solar powered and uses the campus wireless network
through a high-gain antenna to transmit high resolution data to remote clients.
Short Biography
Vinod K Lohani is a Professor in the Engineering Education Department and an adjunct faculty in the
Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech (VT), USA. He received his undergraduate
engineering degree in India, M.S. in engineering at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand and
Ph.D. in civil engineering from VT. His research interests are in the areas of computer-supported
research and learning systems, hydrology, engineering education, and international collaboration.
He has led several interdisciplinary research and curriculum reform projects, funded by the U.S.
National Science Foundation (NSF), at VT. He has directed/co-directed an NSF/Research
Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site on interdisciplinary water sciences and engineering
since 2007. This site has 56 alumni from all over the country to date and will train 30 additional
undergraduates during 2014-16. He collaborated with his colleagues to implement a study abroad
project (2007-12), funded under the US-Brazil Higher Education Program of the U.S. Department of
Education, at VT. He has published over 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conferences. He
is the director of a unique real-time water and weather monitoring research and education lab on the
VT campus. He is actively engaged in curriculum internationalization activities at VT and has
traveled widely. In 2011, he was awarded the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)
International Division’s Global Engineering & Engineering Technology Educator Award. He has won
several awards at VT including the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award in 2013.