Fall 2026 Pitch Day Features New Projects for Master of Engineering Students
Institute for Advanced Computing announces new “PBL Showcase” to reward top teams and highlight their work in December
On the first day of the fall 2026 semester, the Institute for Advanced Computing launched directly into a core aspect of its mission — connections with industry and government in the greater Washington, D.C., area.
Master of Engineering students heard from representatives from companies, government organizations, research groups, and community partners, as well as alumni and professors contributing real-world challenges to their Integrated Project Design and Capstone courses this fall. This is also known as “Pitch Day,” a gathering at Academic Building One in Alexandria, where organizations detail the problems they are proposing to Virgina Tech computer science and computer engineering graduate students for the coming semester or year. More than 150 students, faculty, staff, partners, and friends of the IAC attended the Aug. 25 event in person and online.
“Interest in our project-based program, and collaborating with our master’s students, continues to grow,” said Melissa Cameron, director of experiential learning at the Institute for Advanced Computing. “We are excited about the range of projects for this year, and the opportunities they create for our students and partners.”
Through these collaborations, students gain hands-on experience solving real world challenges, while organizations benefit from new perspectives and solutions. Projects vary in length, from semester-long capstones to full-year deep dives in Integrated Project Design courses. There are 114 students in the classes this semester, participating in 25 projects.
Pitch Day featured a diverse range of project partners, including the following external partners:
• Alexandria City - Office of Analytics, Innovation, and Data
• Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS)
• Advanced Genomics Research Inc. (AGR)
• Capital One
• Full Visibility
• MARi
• MCCS (U.S. Marine Corps Community Services)
• Millennium Space Systems
• The Boeing Company
• U.S. Secret Service (USSS)
Plus, faculty and Virgina Tech departments led projects:
• Dr. Almuatazbellah Boker
• Dr. Jun Wang
• Dr. Kurt Luther
• Dr. Melissa Cameron
• Dr. Sara Hooshangi
• Thinkabit at VT
• Virginia Tech Communications
• VT Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center
Among the projects presented were two from new partners that demonstrate how project-based learning can address complex challenges in health care and public education. Advanced Genomics Research Inc. introduced a Personalized Health Digital Twin project. This project asks students to explore how individual health and physiological data can be integrated to model changes over time and examine the potential effects of behaviors, conditions, and interventions.
Alexandria City Public Schools presented a project to create a secure, organized system for bringing together information from across the school division. The system would make it easier for authorized staff to use data and support future AI tools, while protecting the privacy of student and school information.
Students will present their project results in December 2026, with the top teams competing in a new PBL Showcase on Tuesday, Dec. 8. Winning teams will receive monetary prizes ranging from $250 to $1,000.
Interested in partnering with the IAC on a future project? Learn more.
