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Academic/industry response

The Construction Industry Institute (CII), a University of Texas-based research institute promoting collaboration between industry and academia, had a relationship with Tech before the tragedy—having sponsored several VT-led engineering research projects. CII felt the loss deeply and upon learning of the tragedy, CII members immediately sought to develop a positive response. In just a few months, CII worked with Virginia Tech faculty to design a three-credit graduate class teaching CII Best Practices to the future leaders of the construction industry. The first class was taught in Fall 2008 over three weekends by subject matter experts from CII member companies Procter & Gamble, KBR, Fluor Corporation, the Smithsonian Institution, BE&K, Department of State, and CII staff.

Because the original course proved to be a win for all involved—the students, Tech, CII, and industry—it was scheduled again the following year, and has become a regular Fall semester offering at Tech. In an extension of the giving spirit that generated the course, CII and Virginia Tech made the second series of classes available to five other universities through distance learning. Since then, the web-enabled course has relocated to The University of Texas at Austin, expanded its broadcast on average to 14 universities per year, and remotely engaged instructors from as far away as Saudi Arabia. Throughout the course's expansion, Virginia Tech has remained a central participant, dedicated to developing the future leaders of the construction industry through this positive, practical response to tragedy.