Virginia Tech Innovation Campus Executive Director Named

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Virginia Tech has named Lance R. Collins as vice president and executive director of the new Innovation Campus in Alexandria. He comes from Cornell University, where he serves as the Joseph Silbert dean of engineering.

His position starts on Aug. 1 as the $1 billion Innovation Campus prepares to enroll its first students in fall 2020. These students will take classes in existing Virginia Tech space in Northern Virginia. The first academic building is slated to be complete in 2024, and the entire campus could be built by 2030.

Collins has served as Cornell’s college of engineering since 2010 and helped lead a successful bid to build Cornell Tech, which opened its Roosevelt Island campus in 2017. Virginia Tech leaders believe this experience can translate to Virginia Tech as it builds a foundation for the Innovation Campus.

"Not only does Lance have a stellar track record in leading one of the world’s finest engineering colleges at Cornell, but he has also contributed to building a tech campus in a major metropolitan area," said Virginia Tech Provost Cyril Clarke in a statement. "His experience and expertise in recruiting faculty and students, raising private support and creating partnerships with corporate and government leaders will be critical to Virginia Tech’s success in meeting the workforce needs of the commonwealth and building upon our strengths in teaching and research at the Innovation Campus."

Collins first joined Cornell in 2002 as a professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. As dean, he secured the two largest gifts in the history of the college, a $50 million gift to name the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering and a $50 million gift to name the Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He also established new programs and incubators to introduce new technology and increase diversity in the college of engineering.

The phase one concept plan for the campus and accompanying mixed-use development was submitted to the City of Alexandria in November 2019 and will need to be approved. The first phase calls for three academic buildings on the east side of Potomac Avenue and the Potomac Yard Shopping Center. The campus will have 300,000 square feet of academic space research-and -development facilities, 250,000 square feet for startups and corporate facilities, 350,000 square feet of housing space for students and faculty and 100,000 square feet of retail and support space. The first phase will prompt the closing of the Regal Potomac Yard theater, and the rest of the shopping center would ultimately be redeveloped in the next phase.

The Innovation Campus will be about two miles from Amazon's second headquarters in Arlington. Virginia Tech's campus in Alexandria was cited as a major factor in Amazon's decision to locate in Arlington. Virginia Tech anticipates it will enroll up to 750 master's, doctoral and postdoctoral students when the campus is completed in 10 years.