Alexandria's Virginia Tech Innovation Campus Opens First Building To Students

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Students got an introduction to the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in Alexandria as its first academic building opened for classes Tuesday.

The new 11-story, 300,000-square-foot building is the first for the campus in Alexandria's Potomac Yard. It was announced alongside Amazon's second headquarters in neighboring Arlington County and is planned as part of a larger mixed-use development by JBG Smith near the new Potomac Yard Metro station.

The campus is enrolling students pursuing Master of Engineering degrees in computer science and computer engineering as Virginia Tech seeks to develop more tech talent for regional employers. As of the fall 2024 semester, 455 Master of Engineering students were enrolled in Northern Virginia. By 2030, the Innovation Campus expects to enroll 700 to 900 master's degree students.

According to Virginia Tech, highlights of the new building are the Boeing Auditorium with a capacity of 200 in a classroom-style format or 300 in an auditorium format, 14 classrooms ranging from 25 to 90 seats, three instructional studios for online teaching and learning, 32 huddle rooms for student and faculty collaboration, a cyber physical lab, two-story drone testing cage and eighth floor roof deck with a capacity of 300 people. A fifth floor suite will be the Northern Virginia headquarters of the Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics, while the second floor will host a K-12 Initiatives Center to promote STEM learning, the Boeing Center for Veteran Transition and Military Families, and the Hokie One Stop student services center. An underground parking lot provides 169 parking spaces and eight electric charging stations.

There are 55 employees based at the Innovation Campus as of fall 2024, including 17 faculty. By 2029, the campus is aiming to have 50 faculty. The campus also has a research focus on artificial intelligence and machine learning, wireless and next generation technology, quantum information science and intelligent interfaces.

A grand opening event for the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus will be held on Feb. 28 with keynote speaker Regina Dugan, the president and CEO of Wellcome Leap.