Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Annual Report Annual Report 2016 | Page 29

29 SMART INFRASTRUCTURE LABORATORY Using the fully-sensored 160,000 square feet of Goodwin Hall as a test-bed, the SMART Infrastructure Lab is a multidisciplinary masterpiece. Director and Assistant Professor Pablo Tarazaga enjoys partnerships with faculty from a variety of engineering, science, music, visual arts, and education disciplines. Creating terrabytes of data daily, the facility is providing a wealth of knowledge on the power of Big Data and creating smarter infrastructure. SPINNERET BASED TUNABLE ENGINEERING PARAMETERS LABORATORY The STEP Lab was founded by Associate Professor Amrinder Nain in 2009 to manufacture mechanistically tunable polymeric nanofibers using a non-electrospinning technology. The lab takes an interdisciplinary approach to research by working with multiple departments and institutes within the university. Current research includes studies of cancer cell protrusion, single and collective cell migration, and formation of cancer leader cells. RAILWAY TECHNOLOGIES LABORATORY Designed to explore and implement technologies enabling U.S. railroad companies be more efficient and competitive in their operations, the RTL was established in 2004 as an Association of American Railroads affiliated laboratory. Today, the laboratory allows state-of-the-art research in rail vehicle dynamics, railway component design and development, and analytical evaluation of various systems for rail applications.