Virginia Commonwealth University’s Nonproliferation Program: Developments in the Last Two Years

It has been two years since Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) initially expanded its teaching and research in the area of nonproliferation. In these last two years, VCU has had a significant increase in nonproliferation capabilities and opportunities for students. This increase includes expanding the network of collaborators on campus to include biosecurity, cybersecurity, and political science, and the formation of an INMM Student Chapter. The most noticeable increase though is in the opportunities available to VCU students. Numerous nonproliferation related courses have been added to the curriculum, many of which are available to distance learning students. The diversity of students taking these courses has also expanded with students from mechanical engineering and homeland security and emergency preparedness consistently enrolling in these courses. Opportunities outside of academia to VCU nonproliferation students have also expanded. Nonproliferation students have been attending numerous training courses and facility tours at national laboratories and other sites. The nonproliferation program at VCU has even expanded its outreach activities with Virginia high schools and international organizations. This paper describes the nonproliferation capabilities VCU has expanded upon in the past two years and highlights near future goals of the program.