Thomas A. Dingus

Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
Class of 1987, Ph.D.

Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
Class of 1985, M.S.

When applying to graduate school after receiving his bachelor's degree in systems engineering from Wright State University, Thomas A. Dingus eyed Virginia Tech’s human factors program within the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering for its reputation as the best in the U.S. at the time. Looking back at his time as an undergraduate and graduate student, he cites faculty members Walt Wierwille, Harry Snyder, Bob Williges, Dennis Price, and Eb Kroemer as people who were influential to him.

“I went from a bachelor’s to a Ph.D. in just over three years, thanks in no small part to Walt's guidance and funding,” Dingus said. “That became a motto of sorts — ‘Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.’" 

Dingus has held faculty, research, and administrative roles at the University of Idaho and Virginia Tech, including his position as the inaugural director of the latter’s Institute of Critical Technology and Applied Science, in additon to roles in industry and government. Dingus now serves as the director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, the Newport News Shipbuilding Professor of Engineering, and the president of university-affiliated research corporation VTT, LLC. He has also served on the board of directors for associations including the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International and the Intelligent Transportation Society of America.