An Overview Of An Integrated Research And Graduate Education Program In Advanced Networking

This paper discusses the Integrated Research and Education in Advanced Networking (IREAN) program being created at Virginia Tech. The IREAN program is an experiment in graduate education that seeks to significantly improve the quality of Ph.D. graduates in the networking area by moving away from the single-discipline, narrow-focus, lone-researcher model of traditional Ph.D. programs. The program integrates multiple disciplines through the participation of faculty and students from three colleges and through collaborative multidisciplinary research projects. The program also integrates research with education experiences and integrates research and technical education with training in “soft skills,” including communications and teamwork. This paper describes the program’s goals and the educational program, implementation strategies to be used to achieve these goals, and the program’s curriculum.