Vinod Chachra M.S. ’68, Ph.D. ’72

Creating opportunity for the next generation

Vinod Chachra M.S. ’68, Ph.D. ’72, has spent much of his career embodying Virginia Tech’s motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve).

Chachra’s engineering journey began at the Indian Institute of Technology, where he earned the institute’s gold medal as its best-performing student. When he arrived in Blacksburg to continue his education, he had a little more than $200 to his name. Support from Virginia Tech’s Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering was transformative, providing Chachra with financial assistance and even the opportunity to teach — a foundation that made his career possible.

Today, Chachra hopes the fellowship he created as part of the Moraco Fellowship Challenge will open similar doors for future generations. His gift is designed to equip junior faculty with the support they need to mentor and educate the next wave of innovators in industrial and systems engineering.

“There is no investment more important than educating people,” Chachra said. “Ensuring junior faculty have the resources to mentor and teach great students will create lasting impact.”

After earning two degrees in industrial engineering and operations research at Virginia Tech, Chachra spent more than a decade advancing the university’s computing and information technology systems. He later founded VTLS Inc., one of Virginia Tech’s first — and most successful — technology spinoff companies, which became the first tenant of the Corporate Research Center (CRC), producing software and building a model for library networking. When Chachra sold VTLS in 2015, it stood for Visionary Technology in Library Solutions, and under his leadership it became a global leader in library and information management systems, serving institutions in 41 countries and helping establish Blacksburg as a hub for technology entrepreneurship.

Chachra continues to invest in students and innovation out of deep gratitude for the opportunities Virginia Tech provided him — and a commitment to ensuring future Hokies have access to the same life-changing experiences.