VTechWorks
VTechWorks provides global access to Virginia Tech scholarship, including journal articles, books, theses, dissertations, conference papers, slide presentations, technical reports, working papers, administrative documents, videos, images, and more by faculty, students, and staff. Faculty can deposit items to VTechWorks from Elements, including journal articles covered by the University open access policy. Email vtechworks@vt.edu for help.
Open Access Policy
Virginia Tech's open access policy enables researchers to deposit the accepted version of scholarly articles with no embargo.
Theses and Dissertations
Virginia Tech was first in the world to require ETDs in 1997, and continues to add scans of older theses and dissertations.
Open Textbooks
More than 50 freely available and openly licensed textbooks are among our most downloaded items.
Communities in VTechWorks
Select a community to browse its collections.
Recent Submissions
Homework Software Access Code Replacements and Strategies: A Roundtable Discussion
Walz, Anita R.; Russell, J. Morgan; Hart, Heath David; Lord, James K.; Grohs, Jacob R. (2025-02-13)
Homework software systems save time for instructors, particularly in large-enrollment courses. However, student-paid access codes have limited functionality and are expensive--between $50-150 per course per semester for the 30% of courses which require them. Functionality affects learning and costs disproportionally affect historically underserved students and student academic performance. Virginia Tech’s Open Education Initiative is working to establish a variety of options for instructors. Join this Roundtable to discuss with instructors from STEM and non-STEM disciplines who use university approved, no-fee-to-students alternatives including: WeBWorK, PressbooksResults, peer-reviewed test banks for LMS import, and problem set environment for engineering.
Downloadable files include slides and submitted proposal.
VTC Class of 2026 Research Symposium
(2026)
A program for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine Student Research Symposium, held March 26, 2026. The event highlights student-led research across basic science, clinical research, and community health.
Investigating Toxicity of Bacteriophage Lambda N-Protein Upon Overexpression in Escherichia coli
Hite, Kristopher; Upton, Jan; Souders, Cole; Larson, Timothy J. (2026-03-09)
Over the course of two decades, cloning of a variety of native and engineered DNA fragments from bacteriophage lambda was performed as part of a capstone undergraduate course aimed at teaching fundamentals of recombinant DNA technology and regulation of gene expression in bacteria. Genomic DNA of bacteriophage lambda (λ–phage) was digested with BamHI and HindIII and the resulting DNA fragments were then ligated into similarly digested plasmid vector pUC19 to illustrate the principle of shot-gun cloning. E. coli strain TB1 was then transformed using selection for ampicillin resistance and the blue-white color screen. Upon analysis of recombinant plasmids isolated from white colonies, it became apparent that four of the five BamHI and HindIII DNA fragments were easily obtained, but one fragment was persistently missing. This 2396 bp BamHI-HindIII fragment between lambda phage genome coordinates 34500-36895 (Accession No. J02459.1) was dubbed the toxic fragment and contained the strong leftward promoter (pL) and downstream N gene encoding the transcription anti-terminator protein N, as well as the ‘rexA rexB genes. Truncation of this toxic fragment revealed that a smaller fragment (1,133 bp, spanning coordinates 34500-35632) was sufficient to confer toxicity upon cloning into pUC19. This smaller fragment contains the intact pL promoter, the open reading frame for the N-protein, and, importantly, 540 bp of 3’ untranslated DNA (UTR, which contains transcription terminator tL1). High level expression of the N-protein was hypothesized to be responsible for bacterial toxicity. This hypothesis was validated when the shorter (1,133 bp) toxic fragment was successfully transformed into strain TB1 containing pACλcI encoding lambda phage repressor protein which negatively controls expression of the N protein by binding to operators within the pL promoter. In addition, various mutations altering the pL promoter relieved toxicity. To further narrow the region of the UTR and/or N-protein responsible for bacterial toxicity, a series of truncations was created by PCR. Surprisingly, a recombinant plasmid containing the wild-type pL promoter and full length N-gene (but lacking tL1) was not toxic. Current research is focused on truncating and mutating bases within this 3’-UTR with the goal of understanding what role tL1 may be playing in toxicity
Teaching Communication in Capstone Design: The Role of the Instructor in Situated Learning
Paretti, Marie C. (ASEE, 2008-10)
Calls for engineers to communicate more effectively are ubiquitous, and engineering education literature includes numerous examples of assignments and courses that integrate writing and speaking with technical content. However, little of this literature examines in detail how engineering students develop communication skills and how those learning mechanisms influence classroom practice. To address this gap, this article synthesizes research on communication learning in college from the fields of composition and technical communication and illustrates its relevance to the engineering classroom with a case study of a capstone design course. The principles of situated learning and activity theory, in particular, provide strong evidence that the ways in which course instructors and students interact around communication tasks play a significant role in helping students develop transferable communication skills.
Effective, ongoing engagement with the disability community: A case study of the Accessibility Advisory Committee at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
McGregor, Freya A.; Dayer, Ashley A. (2026-03-20)
Staff across Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) interact with dozens of advisory committees, made up of experts on various topics, as a way of expanding their knowledge and the impact and effectiveness of their work. One of these committees is the Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC). As described by Bob, the committee chair, the AAC is made up of “a lot of experienced voices who get together and brainstorm ideas about how to make state parks and wildlife areas more accessible for the ever-growing disability community.”
This case study report has been developed to help staff at state wildlife agencies and other nature organizations implement and run, or revive, an effective and engaged accessibility advisory committee. We believe that doing this well may be the most important step that organizations can take to increase accessibility for disabled wildlife viewers, hunters, anglers, hikers, campers and other outdoor recreationists. Other initiatives, such as designing and building accessible trails or observation blinds, developing disability-friendly wildlife viewing programs, and implementing adaptive equipment loaner programs, will all likely benefit significantly from collaborating with a diverse group of thoughtful disabled stakeholders throughout the process. Establishing, and supporting, an accessibility advisory committee is likely to make these other initiatives more cost effective, more usable, and more impactful to the very community agencies are trying to serve through such efforts.
This report was created as a result of hours of interviews with five Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) staff members, and five members of the Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC). It answers the following questions:
- Why is an Accessibility Advisory Committee helpful to state wildlife agencies?
- What is the role of the Accessibility Advisory Committee at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department?
- How did the Accessibility Advisory Committee get implemented?
- What challenges exist in implementing and running the Accessibility Advisory Committee? How were they overcome?
- What resources are needed to run the Accessibility Advisory Committee?
- How does the Accessibility Advisory Committee operate?
- What effect does the Accessibility Advisory Committee have on agency staff?
- What are the committee members’ motivations for participating in the Accessibility Advisory Committee?
- What factors make the Accessibility Advisory Committee effective?
- Advice on implementing an Accessibility Advisory Committee at your agency.
References and appendices are included, including information about methods, terminology, the typical flow of an Accessibility Advisory Committee meeting, and strategies for building relationships with the disability community.
We hope you find this report full of helpful, replicable ideas and strategies to create, and engage effectively with, an accessibility advisory committee. Thank you for your work to increase accessibility in the outdoors for the 1 in 4 Americans with a disability!