A team of faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students spanning four colleges has created a solar-powered house for the 2009 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.

Sarah Swenson, of Delano, Minn., a Virginia Tech graduate student in urban and regional planning, has received a 2009 Outstanding Commitment Award from Clinton Global Initiative University in partnership with the Pat Tillman Foundation and the Wal-Mart Foundation.

Anne Khademian, professor with Virginia Tech's Center for Public Administration and Policy, School of Public and International Affairs, at the Alexandria, Va., campus has been elected a National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) Fellow.

The School of Architecture + Design's International Archive of Women in Architecture Center (IAWA) announces two winners of the 2009 Milka Bliznakov Prize.

Yang Zhang, assistant professor of urban affairs and planning the School of Public and International Affairs, College of Architecture and Urban Studies, co-organized a research roundtable

"Reconciling Purity and Nature: A Bathing Pool for Daingerfield Island" has won Allison Thurmond of Alexandria, Va., a senior Master of Landscape Architecture student, a National Student Honor Award in the General Design Category from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).

John E. "Jack" Grinnalds, AIA, CFM, (architecture '74), recently received the honor of International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Fellowship at the association's Awards of Excellence banquet on Oct. 9 in Orlando, Fla.

Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Bob Stephan has joined the Center for Technology, Security, and Policy as an affiliate and instructor.

Charles Darwin enthusiasts and scholars will offer contemporary perspectives on the English naturalist's theory of evolution through natural selection at the Nov. 4 Celebration of Darwin conference at Virginia Tech.

"Living Darwin," an original theatrical production, will debut at Virginia Tech this fall. The Theatre Workshop in Science, Technology, and Society and the Department of Theatre and Cinema developed the play, which addresses the theories of Charles Darwin.