2020 – 2022 Officer: Director of Communications
Phone: +1 540-231-3645
E-mail: dibairak@vt.edu
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
ACE(D) Lab: http://aced.enge.vt.edu/
Dr. Bairaktarova is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech (VT), an Affiliate faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and faculty in the Human-centered Design Program also at VT. Dr. Bairaktarova earned her BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Technical University of Sofia, Bulgaria, an MBA from Hamline School of Business and PhD in Engineering Education from Purdue University. She has over fifteen years of experience working as a Design and Manufacturing Engineer. Her current research projects investigate how aptitudes and abilities, interest, and manipulation of physical and virtual objects influence learning and performance in engineering. Diana was recently awarded with the 2020 Virginia Tech the W.S. “Pete” White Award for Innovation in Engineering Education and the XCaliber Award for extraordinary contributions to innovative use of technology to improve student learning.