Dr. Vinod Lohani

Education

Ph.D. Civil Engineering, Virginia Tech
Diploma, Colorado State University
M.S. Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand
B.S. Agricultural Engineering; G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, India

Research Interests

• Computer Supported Research and Learning Systems
• Personalized Learning Systems
• AI Applications in Engineering Education
• Spiral Theory-based Engineering Curricula
• Research Experiences for Undergraduates and Teachers
• Hydrology and Water Resources
• International Collaboration

I have had graduate students in both Engineering Education and Civil & Environmental Engineering departments here at Virginia Tech. I have also co-advised a Ph.D. student in Electrical and Computer Engineering. One key theme of my engineering education research is to use the interdisciplinary engineering/science knowledge to build systems for enhancing student learning. My Learning Enhanced Watershed Assessment System (LEWAS) - an outcome of doctoral research in EngE and interdisciplinary collaboration - is a good example which has now been used in more than 26 undergraduate and graduate courses within and outside VT. Currently, a team of students is developing a Chatbot for the LEWAS lab that will allow users to learn about the capabilities of the lab including past research work and accomplishments. Additionally, this Chatbot will provide a user-friendly interface that will efficiently retrieve and present relevant data from the lab's extensive resources. Please feel free to explore the Chatbot and keep in mind this is work in progress. To date, I have advised/co-advised 10 Ph.D., 12 M.S., and 40+ undergraduate research students.

Biography

Dr. Vinod K. Lohani – one of the founding faculty members of EngE - is a Professor of Engineering Education and an adjunct faculty in Civil & Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech (VT). He received his undergraduate engineering degree in India, M.S. at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand and Ph.D. in civil engineering from VT. He worked at a premier hydrology research institute in India for a few years before joining VT. Dr. Lohani's research interests are in the areas of computer-supported research and learning systems, engineering education, hydrology, and international collaboration. Dr. Lohani led the first two NSF projects in EngE that engaged several engineering and education faculty and established the culture of sponsored research in engineering education within the College of Engineering. He has collaborated with various engineering and education faculty for implementing Jerome Bruner's spiral theory for reforming engineering curricula. He has directed/co-directed an NSF/Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site on interdisciplinary water sciences and engineering for 12 years (2007-2019). This site graduated 115 scholars (78 women, 37 men; 21% URM) and motivated the team to implement an interdisciplinary RET site on water sciences under Dr. Lohani’s leadership. This RET site trained 30+ 9-12 grade and community college instructors and multiple teaching modules were published in teachengineering.com for national dissemination. He collaborated with his colleagues to implement multiple study abroad projects, funded under the US-Brazil Higher Education Program of the U.S. Department of Education and the International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program of the NSF, at VT. He has published over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conferences and delivered 34 invited talks within and outside the country. He is founding director of an interdisciplinary lab called Learning Enhanced Watershed Assessment System (LEWAS) at VT. This lab is a unique real-time high frequency water and weather monitoring research and education lab on VT campus and has an associated cyberlearning system called the Online Watershed Learning System (OWLS). The OWLS has been incorporated into several courses within and outside VT.  VT’s Board of Visitors awarded Dr. Lohani the W.S. “Pete” White Chair for Innovation in Engineering Education that he held during 2018-2020. Also, Virginia Tech nominated Dr. Lohani three times for the Outstanding Faculty Award of the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia. 

Dr. Lohani served as a Program Director in the Division of Graduate Education (DGE) within the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU) at NSF from Jan. ’20 – Jan. ’24. He was assigned to the NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) and Innovation in Graduate Education (IGE) programs and led DGE’s CAREER program for 3 years. He led/co-led 24 NSF panels, provided administrative oversight to 60+ NRT projects all over the country, and processed 400+ NRT/IGE/CAREER proposals. In addition, Dr. Lohani collaborated with various Program Directors from across the Foundation on various NSF working groups on Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE) (ExpandQISE, QUSec-TAQS, NQVL programs), Semiconductors (FuSe program), and Collaboration between the NOAA and NSF. Overall, he made 60+ awards in various priority areas of national interest including advanced manufacturing and materials, robotics, food, energy and water systems (FEWs), biotechnology, AI, and QISE worth $100M. He received NSF Director’s Commendable Service Award in September 2023.

During 2016-19, Dr. Lohani served as the Director (Education and Global Initiatives) at VT’s Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS). He directed ICTAS’ Doctoral Scholars program - an interdisciplinary program with scholars from five colleges (Engineering, Agriculture & Life Sciences, Science, Natural Resources & Environment, Veterinary Medicine) - and recruited 38 scholars (27 women including one Afro-Latin American female and 11 men) and developed professional development activities. He developed and implemented seed funding activities to promote interdisciplinary undergraduate research activities and participated in various other seed funding programs (junior faculty, diversity and inclusion (D&I)) of the Institute. He served as the Diversity Champion of the Institute for 2 years and coordinated Institute’s participation at VT’s HBCU/MSI research summit. He co-advised a Ph.D. student whose research is the direct outcome of the D&I initiative of ICTAS.

Awards & Honors

• NSF Director’s Commendable Service Award, 2023
• Nominated by Virginia Tech for 2019 Outstanding Faculty Award of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia
• Distinguished Alumni Award, Awarded by the Indian Students Association, Virginia Tech, Dec. 2016
• Woody Everett Best Poster Award, Computers in Education Division, ASEE, Seattle, 2015
• Nominated by Virginia Tech for 2015 Outstanding Faculty Award of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia
• Virginia Tech: Most Favorite Faculty Award, 2014 (chosen by students)
• Virginia Tech: Teacher of the Week Award, 2014
• Certificate of Achievement – 2014 Outstanding Faculty Award Finalist - State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (teaching with technology category)
• Virginia Tech – Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award, 2013 (first engineering faculty to receive this award)
• Virginia Tech – XCaliber Certificate for Excellence, 2013
• American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) International Division’s Global Engineering & Engineering Technology Educator Award, 2011
• Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award, College of Engineering, 2011
• May/June Educator of the Month, DyKnow Company, Summer 2011
• W. S. “Pete” White Innovation in Engineering Education Award, College of Engineering, 2010
• William Elgin Wickenden Award for Best Paper in Journal of Engineering Education from the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), 2010 (co-author)
• Faculty Fellow Award, College of Engineering, 2008

Selected Publications

• Jalali, Y., Barilla, J.; Davis, K., Lohani, V.K., and Müller, R., 2024. "Learning Outcomes, Benefits, and Challenges of International Research Experiences for Students (IRES): An Exploratory Study of an IRES Program in China," Journal of International Engineering Education: Vol. 6 (1), DOI: 10.23860/jiee.2024.06.01.01.
• Naseri, M. Y., Snyder, C., Pérez-Rivera, K. X., Bhandari, S., Workneh, H. A., Aryal, N., Biswas, G., Henrick, E., Hotchkiss, E. R., Jha, M. K., Jiang, S. X., Kern, E. C., Lohani, V. K., Marston, L. T., Vanags, C. P., and Xia, K. 2024. “Integrating Data Science into Undergraduate Science and Engineering Courses: Lessons Learned by Instructors in a Multiuniversity Research-Practice Partnership,” IEEE Transactions on Education, DOI: 10.1109/TE.2024.3436041.
• Varshney, D., Naseri, Y., Kothyari, A., and Lohani, V. K. (2024, July 25). AI-enhanced teaching assistant: Bridging instructor knowledge and web intelligence [Poster presentation]. Summer Conference, Office of Undergraduate Research, Virginia Tech.
• Varshney, D., Naseri, Y., Kothyari, A., and Lohani, V. K. (2024, July 25). Development of an AI-assisted chatbot for a water monitoring environment lab [Poster presentation]. Summer Conference, Office of Undergraduate Research, Virginia Tech.
• Basu, D. and Lohani, V. K., 2023. “Learning and engagement with an online laboratory for environmental monitoring education,” European Journal of Engineering Education, DOI: 10.1080/03043797.2023.2175199
• Jalali, Y., Mathies, C. Lohani, V.K., 2022. “Imagination and Moral Deliberation: A Case Study of an Ethics Discussion Session,” International Journal of Engineering Education, 38(3), pp. 709-718.
• Basu, D., Lohani, V. K., and Muffo, J., 2018. “Research Experiences for Undergraduates on Interdisciplinary Water Sciences and Engineering: Accomplishments in Nine Years,” International Journal of Engineering Education, 34(1), pp. 155-170.
• McDonald, W., Dymond, R., and Lohani, V. K., 2018. “Evaluation of continuous monitoring as a tool for municipal stormwater management programs,” ASCE's Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment, vol. 4(1), Feb. 2018.
• Teo, H. J., Johri, A., and Lohani, V. K., 2017. “Analytics and Patterns of Knowledge Creation: Experts at Work in an Online Engineering Community,” Computers & Education, vol. 112, pp. 18-36.
• Brogan, D.S., McDonald, W.M., Lohani, V.K., Dymond, R.L., and Bradner, A.J., 2016, “Development and Classroom Implementation of an Environmental Data Creation and Sharing Tool,” Advances in Engineering Education (AEE), 5(2), pp. 1-34.
• Krause, C.W., Lockard, B., Newcomb, T.J., Kibler, D., Lohani, V.K. and Orth,D. J, 2004, “Influence of Urban Development on Thermal Habitat in a Warm- Water stream,” Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA), vol. 40(6), pp 1645-1658.
• Dymond, R., Regmi, B., Lohani, V. K., and Dietz, R., 2004. “An Interdisciplinary Web-Enabled SDSS for Watershed Management,” Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, ASCE, vol. 130(4), July/August, 2004, pp. 290-300.
• Dymond, R., Lohani, V. K., Kibler, D., Bosch. D., Rubin, E., Dietz, R., Chanat, J., Speir*, C., Shaffer, C., Ramakrishnan, N., Watson, L., 2003, ‘From Landscapes to Waterscapes: A PSE for Landuse Change Analysis,’ Engineering with Computers Journal, vol. 19, pp. 9-25.
• Bosch, D., Lohani, V. K., Dymond, R., Kibler, D., and Stephenson, K., 2003. “Hydrological and Fiscal Impacts of Residential Development: A Virginia Case Study,” Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, ASCE, vol. 129, no. 2 (March/April 2003), pp. 107-114.
• Lohani, V. K., Kibler, D. F., and Chanat, J., 2002, ‘Constructing a Problem Solving Environment Tool for Hydrologic Assessment of Land Use Change,’ Journal of American Water Resources Association, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 439-452.
• Watson, L. T., Lohani, V. K., Kibler, D.F., Dymond, R., Ramakrishnan, N., and Shaffer, C. A., 2002, ‘Integrated Computing Environment for Watershed Management,’ Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, ASCE, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 259-268.