ROANOKE, VA – Growing up in Fishersville, Virginia, Rick Clark, now a Botetourt

County resident, was always tinkering with things. He spent a good deal of his time

taking apart bikes, appliances, or anything else he could get his hands on and then trying

to put them back together -- sometimes with a few parts left over.

By the time he graduated Wilson Memorial High School, Clark was still

interested in tinkering with things and pursued that interest at Virginia Tech, studying

material science and engineering.

“It always interested me how things worked, what made them work, and what

components were needed to make things function,” says Clark. “That’s why material

science clicked with me. It gave me the chance to investigate the relationship between the

structure of materials and their properties.”

Clark received his bachelor’s degree in 1991, but stayed at Tech to pursue a

master’s degree and eventually a Ph.D. in 1996. During his continued study, he began to

teach in the Materials Science department, which gave him an interest in teaching

professionally.

“It was really exciting teaching kids something I was interested in and seeing that

they were interested in it as well,” Clark says. “The neat thing about engineering classes

is that a majority of them are hands-on labs, which actually lets students demonstrate

what they are learning in a classroom. This showed me that I was actually teaching

students something.”

Once Clark received his doctorate from Virginia Tech, he worked for a year in

Blacksburg at Luna Innovations, conducting research in fiber optics. He had recently

married and the newlywed couple decided to move to California in 2000 so Clark could

head the engineering program at the College of the Canyons in Los Angeles. “The

program was brand new,” says Clark, “and hired me to help develop the program, as well

as head the recruitment effort.”

Clark spent five years in California developing the engineering program at

College of the Canyons. During those years he also attended The Master’s Seminary and

had three children with his wife, Julie. He also started a robotics and an engineering

academy for high school students in the Los Angeles area. “I was trying to make sure

kids knew it was okay to be a nerd; that, in fact, it was cool to be a nerd,” Clark says of

his efforts.

In 2005, Clark and his family returned to Virginia to settle in the Roanoke area.

Now, Clark works as an Associate Professor, and Assistant Dean of Engineering at

Virginia Western Community College. “I like to have fun here,” Clark says. Clark has

certainly found ways to keep it fun at Virginia Western; he has just returned with a team

of his students from Rochester, NY, where they raced in the SAE mini-baja international

competition, driving an off-road vehicle they had built from scratch. Clark is also famous

for giving all of his students who graduate a pocket protector with their names on it.

“We are grateful to have Rick as a Virginia Western faculty member,” says Jim

Poythress, Dean of Business Science, Engineering, and Technology at Virginia Western.

“Not only does he bring a broad assortment of experience and great ideas, but he brings

enthusiasm and energy into the classroom that students can easily connect with”.

Clark also spends his time as a lay college pastor at Calvary Memorial Church on

Colonial Avenue. He is expecting his fourth child whom he says they will name Cali if it

is a girl since she will be the only child not born in California.