Jacob 'Jake' Grohs named W.S. 'Pete' White Chair for Innovation in Engineering Education
Jacob “Jake” Grohs ’08, M.S. ’09, M.A. ’12, Ph.D. ’15, professor of engineering education in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has been honored with the W.S. “Pete” White Chair for Innovation in Engineering Education by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
The W.S. “Pete” White Chair for Innovation in Engineering Education was established with a generous gift from American Electric Power. The creation of this chair, in honor of Pete White ’48, enables Virginia Tech to generate new interest in the teaching of engineering and in improving the learning process. It is unique in its flexibility because the chair is rotated biannually to a new recipient.
A member of the engineering education faculty since 2015, Grohs has held leadership positions in the department as assistant head for graduate programs from 2020-22 and at the university/institute level as director for the Center for Educational Networks and Impacts within the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology since 2023.
Grohs leads an open-education resource project focused on large-enrollment gateway engineering mechanics courses that introduce key concepts but that are notoriously challenging for students. The key innovation of this project involves the creation and implementation of an interactive open-license textbook, problem exercises for practice and homework, and an integrated learning and assessment environment with individualized student feedback. Because these courses are critical to future engineering success, Grohs and his team continue to make a substantial impact through their work in terms of the total number of students served, faculty adopters at Virginia Tech and beyond, and the collective accrued savings as students and faculty use these high-quality materials at no cost.
