Joseph L. Gabbard awarded Hal G. Prillaman Professorship
Joseph L. Gabbard, professor of human factors engineering and ergonomics in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering as well as a professor of computer science by courtesy appointment in the College of Engineering, has been awarded the Hal G. Prillaman Professorship in Industrial and Systems Engineering by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
The Hal G. Prillaman Professorship in Industrial and Systems Engineering was established with a generous gift from Hal G. Prillaman ’55. Prillaman received his Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering and was a member of the College of Engineering's Academy of Alumni Excellence.
A faculty member of the Virginia Tech community since 1999, Gabbard has published 60 journal papers and 55 refereed conference papers, with 29 journal and 19 conference papers during the past five years. His work has been cited more than 13,700 times.
He has secured $65.2 million in research funding, with $7.84 million as his personal share, which has been conducted through 60 externally funded projects. Gabbard has research collaborations with faculty in the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and Japan.
Gabbard was named a Grado Senior Faculty Fellow in 2022, received the College of Engineering Dean's Award for Excellence in Research in 2021, and most recently was inducted into the prestigious IEEE Visualization and Graphics Technical Community Virtual Reality Academy in 2025, which recognizes leaders in the fields of virtual and augmented reality.
Gabbard has advised 12 Ph.D. students and five master’s thesis students to completion. During the past five years, he graduated seven doctoral students and two master’s thesis students.
He served as a faculty lead within the Intelligent Infrastructure for Human-Centered Communities Destination Area; as a member of the College of Engineering’s Research Advisory Council; as a representative on the University Athletics Committee; as a faculty senator; as a fellow of the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology; and on the Executive Committee for the Center for Human-Computer Interaction.
