Graduate Catalog
2023-2024
 
Policies, Procedures, Academic Programs
Environmental Design and Planning
College of Engineering
Bishop-Favrao Hall is a 31,600 GSF laboratory facility adjacent to Cowgill Hall, which is home to the Myers-Lawson School of Construction. The building houses administrative and faculty offices for the Department of Building Construction, the Construction Engineering and Management Program, and the Program in Real Estate. In addition to providing classroom space, seminar rooms, and studios, the facility also provides state-of-the-art laboratory spaces, including testing labs, wet labs, material handling, tool labs, and workshops for assembly of construction systems.
Bishop-Favrao Hall (0156) Blacksburg VA 24061
Bishop-Favrao Hall
Degree(s) Offered:
• PhD
PhD Degree in Environmental Design and Planning
Minimum GPA: 3.0
Offered In:
Blacksburg
Email Contact(s):
Web Resource(s):
Phone Number(s):
Application Deadlines:
Fall: Apr 01
Spring: Sep 01
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Department Head : Georg Reichard
Graduate Program Director(s) : Tanyel Turkaslan Bulbul (Graduate Program Chair), Brandy Barrow (Graduate Program Assistant)
Professors: Brian Kleiner; Andrew McCoy; Georg Reichard; Walid Thabet
Associate Professors: Abiola Akanmu; Thomas Mills; Annie Pearce; Tanyel Turkaslan Bulbul; Lu Zhang
Assistant Professors: Kereshmeh Afsari; Philip Agee; Xinghua Gao; Nazila Roofigari-Esfahan; Alireza Shojaei kol kachi; Ruichuan Zhang
Collegiate Associate Professors: Josh Iorio

Doctoral Program in Environmental Design and Planning

The Environmental Design and Planning (EDP) program at Virginia Tech prepares doctoral students with the professional and academic skills to address the challenges of creating and maintaining tomorrow's built environment. The Doctor of Philosophy degree offers the opportunity for advanced studies and research in specialized areas relating to building design, construction, and operations, providing the basis to contribute to the field from positions in either industry or academia.  Applicants must demonstrate the capability to undertake advanced academic studies including independent research. While a prior related degree in the field and industry experience are not required for admission, applicants must demonstrate relevant background and capabilities to succeed at the advanced study level. A minimum of 90 credit hours is required with a minimum of 27 hours of core coursework.
Offered In (Blacksburg)

Degree Requirements

Minimum GPA: 3.0
Institution code: 5859
Testing Requirements:
  • GRE
    • Verbal + Quantitative Reasoning
      • Minimum : 305.0
  • TOEFL
    • Paper
      • 600.0
    • iBT
      • 100.0
  • IELTS
    • Overall
      • Total : 7.0

The Environmental Design and Planning (EDP) program in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech prepares doctoral students with the professional and academic skills to address the challenges of creating and maintaining tomorrow's built environment. The Doctor of Philosophy degree offers the opportunity for advanced study and research in specialized areas relating to building design, construction, and operations, providing the basis to contribute to the field from positions in either industry or academia.

All EDP applicants must demonstrate the capability to undertake advanced academic studies including independent research. While a prior degree in construction-related fields or construction industry experience is not required for admittance, applicants must demonstrate relevant background and capabilities to succeed at the advanced study level. A minimum of 90 credit hours is required with a minimum of 27 hours of coursework. Students must also successfully complete the Qualifying and Preliminary Exams, Proposal Defense, and Dissertation Defense to meet all degree requirements.

GRE Requirements : GRE scores are required for all applicants.

TOEFL or IELTS Requirements : TOEFL or IELTS scores are required of all international applicants who have not matriculated from an English-speaking university. A minimum score of 100 of the iBT or 7 of the IELTS is required for this program.

Application Deadlines : All required documents must be received in the Graduate School by the application deadline in order for the application to be complete. The Environmental Design & Planning program primarily expects applications for the fall terms. Students interested in beginning the Ph.D. program during other terms should contact the Department of Building Construction for additional information.

The Department typically conducts admission reviews and makes decisions within one month after the application deadline. Early reviews and admission decisions can be requested based on faculty recommendations. The deadlines below are the latest possible dates that an application will be considered for fall admission. Students wishing to be considered for funding should directly contact faculty as soon as possible with whom they are interested to work to discuss their interests and funding needs.

  • Funded Students:  Students wishing to be considered for funding must apply no later than April 1st for Fall admission. Applications received before January 1st will be considered for early decision funding with decisions being available on January 15th.
  • International Students : The application deadline for international Ph.D. applicants is April 1st for fall admission. Most department decisions will be made by April 15th.
  • Domestic Students : The application deadline for domestic Ph.D. applicants is July 1st for fall admission. Decisions are anticipated to be made by July 15th.

Bishop-Favrao Hall

Bishop-Favrao Hall (BFH) is a 31,600 square foot laboratory facility opened in 2008. It is the home of the Myers-Lawson School of Construction and the Department of Building Construction. BFH was designed to be used as a teaching tool. The structural elements that are usually hidden behind walls and ceiling panels in other buildings are exposed and labeled. That means students can clearly see the structures and systems they are studying in use. All public spaces and all offices have exposed ceilings to allow students and visitors to see the structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and electrical systems. The building was specifically designed with large open work spaces, conference and meeting rooms in order to foster a collaborative atmosphere, and flexible spaces available in this building range from two 100-person classrooms to 10-person conference rooms and reconfigurable studio spaces.

The building is also home to multiple research labs and centers dedicated to inventing the future of the human-centered built environment. In addition to state-of-the-art research facilities, the building contains administrative, faculty, and graduate student offices.

Bishop-Favrao Hall was made possible by numerous Building Construction alumni and friends, many of whom are noted on the donor wall located in the second floor lobby and on plaques around the building. The building is named after Richard Bishop and William A. Favrao.

Address: 1345 Perry St.  |  Map Grid: K-3

Originally Built: 2007  |  Abbreviation: BFH

ARCaDe Lab

The Automation & Robotics in Construction And Design (ARCaDe) Lab mission is to advance research and development in the next generation built environment technologies leveraging innovative solutions for design, construction, and operations of buildings and infrastructures.
The ARCaDe Lab at Virginia Tech is involved in collaborative interdisciplinary research between the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and the College of Engineering to develop new solutions for the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) industry. Key areas include integration of automation, robotic technologies and control systems, smart buildings and infrastructure, and cyber-physical systems.
Resource: ARCADE Website (https://arcade.mlsoc.vt.edu/)

BEST Lab

The Building Enclosure and Systems Technologies (BEST) Lab focuses on building science related topics around environmental building systems and enclosure systems and their interrelated thermal, hygrothermal, and acoustic performance, as well as performance aspects of mechanical, electrical, and lighting systems. This lab contains a full-scale building assembly test chamber as well as a variety of portable equipment for monitoring and measuring building conditions, including lighting, indoor air quality, as well as interior and exterior environmental conditions.
Resource: BEST Lab Website (https://bestlab.mlsoc.vt.edu)

BuildLAB

The BuildLAB is a 6,000 square foot fabrication facility equipped for digital design and construction, this lab focuses primarily on wood and composite materials. The lab includes a full spectrum of portable and fixed conventional construction equipment, computer controlled additive and subtractive manufacturing tools, and a trailer-mounted field office and tool storage unit that can be used for projects off-site.
Resource: BuildLAB Website (https://www.bc.vt.edu/our-labs/buildlab)

SFI Lab

The Sustainable Facilities & Infrastructure (SFI) Lab is a distributed lab that focuses on the study of sustainable technologies and systems in the built environment and the human systems with which they interact. The lab's equipment includes renewable energy feasibility assessment equipment, a portable audience-interactive charrette facilitator's kit, and a building condition assessment toolkit used to evaluate building performance and conditions in the field.

Smart Systems Lab

The Smart Systems Laboratory at Virginia Tech is a research group focused on basic and applied research on the design of decision support systems, cyber-learning and educational technologies with applications to workforce health, safety and technical training, smart education, smart buildings, and cyber-physical construction systems. These research efforts are largely interdisciplinary and draw upon tools from optimization, machine learning, statistics, sensing systems, and immersive technologies (virtual, augmented, and mixed reality) to embed intelligence into the design, construction, and maintenance of building and civil infrastructure systems.
Resource: Smart Systems Lab Website (https://sites.google.com/vt.edu/smart-systems-lab)

VCHR

The Virginia Center for Housing Research (VCHR) -the official housing research center for the Commonwealth of Virginia, VCHR provides housing-related data services and analysis to local government, the Commonwealth, and other organizations.
Resource: VCHR Website (https://www.vchr.vt.edu)

VFRL

The Virtual Facilities Research Lab includes a 250 square foot visualization space as well as other spaces throughout Bishop-Favrao Hall. With a focus on Building Information Modeling (BIM), the lab explores challenges related to interoperability, design for safety, asset and facility management, and simulation.
Resource: VFRL Website (https://www.bc.vt.edu/VFRL)
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