PRESIDENT STEGER TO STEP DOWN: Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger has announced his intention to step down as university president. Steger will remain as president until the search concludes and his replacement begins work. "When one is totally absorbed in doing what one loves, 14 years pass in a nanosecond," said Steger. "These years have been the highlight of my career in higher education, and it has been my privilege to serve as president during a period in which we have strengthened our academic programs and expanded our research and outreach programs."
Learn more about Steger's remarkable legacy »

		June 2013
		In this edition
		Food, fuel, and more—from carbohydrates
		Entomologists won't let the bed bugs bite
		Center for the Arts unveils inaugural season
		Innovative real estate degree program gets green light
		Hokie Highlight: Alumna examines use of pharmaceuticals in pediatrics
		Alumni Association news and events
	Thanks for reading!

Food, fuel, and more—from carbohydrates

Using carbohydrates, Y.H. Percival Zhang has found ways to produce hydrogen to power cars and a mechanism to turn any plant into a food source. In carbohydrates, Zhang sees food, fresh water, biofuels, nutrients, and renewable materials.

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Entomologists won't let the bed bugs bite

Since the early 2000s, population growth, increased international travel, and mounting pesticide resistance have brought bed bugs back with a vengeance. Associate Professor Dini Miller and graduate student Molly Stedfast are studying bed bugs and teaching people how to manage infestations in homes and businesses.

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Center for the Arts unveils season in new facility

The Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech will offer a dynamic range of programming—from timeless classics and family-friendly offerings, to works with deep meaning and global themes, to events with a fresh and sometimes unexpected perspective—for its inaugural 2013-14 season in the new arts center.

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Innovative real estate degree program gets green light

Combining course work from six Virginia Tech colleges, an innovative undergraduate degree program in real estate has been formally approved by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. In true interdisciplinary fashion, students will study architecture, building construction, business, civil and environmental engineering, economics, property management, natural resources management, planning, and law.

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Dr. Dianne Murphy '67)
(courtesy photo)

For leading the charge on testing the safety and efficacy of pharmaceuticals in children, Dr. Dianne Murphy (biology '67) received the Academy of American Pediatrics' (AAP) Excellence in Public Service Award. Trained as a pediatrician, she leads the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Office of Pediatric Therapeutics. Among other endeavors, the office encourages the ethical and scientific development of trials to evaluate the use of drugs in children.

"Most of the 20th century, children have been prescribed drugs where we haven't had the same level of confidence and data when prescribed as we have for adults. ... So the AAP said in 1977, 'This is no longer ethical, and we have to change this,'" said Murphy. "We have changed the way people practice medicine for children." Thanks to those who advocate for better science behind the use of medicine in pediatrics, the U.S. has passed legislation requiring pharmaceutical companies to test the efficacy and safety of their drugs in children.

When Murphy attended Virginia Tech, the 200 female students had to check in every night at 7:30 and sign out to go to class. "It was a very different world in which women didn't frequently go into the sciences." Still, she's grateful for the opportunities that paved the way for her medical career. "When I started all of this, Virginia Tech was one of the few places where women without a lot of money could go to get a first-class education in science."