Dean's Office

State sanctioned in 1996, the College of Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University is driven to become the national model for innovation in engineering and research. Dean Azim Eskandarian, D.Sc., continues the college's momentum into the future with a global approach to innovation and cross-disciplinary focus areas.

Biography

Azim Eskandarian, D.Sc., assumed the position of Alice T. and William H. Goodwin Jr. Dean of the VCU College of Engineering on Aug. 1, 2023. Eskandarian previously served as department head and Nicholas and Rebecca des Champs Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech.

Eskandarian’s career includes experience in academic leadership, research, scholarship and teaching, as well as industry. Serving as department head at Virginia Tech since 2015, he has worked collaboratively within the department and college to enhance innovation and degree programs, improve services, enhance diversity, increase enrollment and external funding, and advance faculty and student success.

Eskandarian, a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, serves as an expert in the Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation Division of the National Science Foundation. He is a senior member of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers professional association and a member of SAE International (formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers), and is a member of Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma engineering honor societies.

Eskandarian’s research focuses on robotics and autonomous and dynamical systems and is applied in areas including autonomous and intelligent vehicles, collision avoidance and driver assistance, intelligent transportation systems, and vehicle crashworthiness and occupant injury biomechanics.

Prior to joining Virginia Tech, he was a professor of engineering and applied science at the George Washington University, where he was also director and founder of the Center for Intelligent Systems Research, director and co-founder of the National Crash Analysis Center, co-founder of the GWU Transportation Research Institute and director of the GWU and School of Engineering’s area of excellence in Transportation Safety and Security. He began his academic career as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Pennsylvania State University, York. He had previously worked as an engineer at VSE Corporation and Phillips Cartner & Co. Inc., both in Alexandria, Virginia.

Eskandarian earned his B.S., M.S. and D.Sc. degrees in mechanical engineering from GWU, Virginia Tech and GWU, respectively.