Virginia Economic Review

This issue of Virginia Economic Review details the things that represent Virginia and its influence on America’s governance, economy, culture, and norms. Highlights include an A to Z listing of those items and illustrative compendiums of famous Virginians and companies located in the Commonwealth.

Jonathan Zur is president and CEO of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities (VCIC), a nonprofit organization based in the Richmond area that works with schools, businesses, and communities to promote inclusion.

Virginia has been indispensable since the beginning of its existence. In addition to eight U.S. presidents, the Commonwealth was home to numerous Founding Fathers who helped shape the direction of the country and many civil rights leaders who believed it was capable of more.

Peter Beck is CEO, CTO, and founder of Rocket Lab, a private space company with commercial launch sites in New Zealand and Wallops Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

The age of autonomous vehicles has arrived. Autonomous shuttles, cars, farm equipment, mining equipment and trucks, on-highway trucks, and construction equipment will be here soon or are already commercially available.

Denbigh High School's Aviation Academy is a Top-Flight Launch Pad for Rising Talent Attitude Equals Altitude That’s the philosophy at Denbigh High School’s Aviation Academy in Newport News in Hampton Roads, a nationally recognized STEM site designed to put no limits on how high students can soar.

With Wing, Google Pioneers Drone Delivery in Virginia On a gravel lot just off of Welcome Street in Christiansburg in Montgomery County, an array of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) recharging pads is flanked by office trailers and shipping containers.

Dale Nash is CEO and executive director of Virginia Space, the owner and operator of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), at Wallops Island on Virginia's Eastern Shore.

On a bright, early morning in the Mojave Desert in November 2021, test pilot Nils Larson will climb into a 97-foot-long airplane resembling something out of “Star Wars.” The nose, from tip to the single-seat cockpit, will be as long as the rest of the aircraft.

On a chilly, cloud-streaked day in February, a 133-foot-tall rocket sat on a launchpad, venting steam from its liquid oxygen tanks. With the Atlantic Ocean tumbling against a beach just a stone's throw away, a flight director counted down to liftoff.

Formula 1 race cars, wind turbines, NASA rockets, and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) optimize performance based on how air flows around their surfaces at various speeds, altitudes, and temperatures.

When Andy Schaudt addresses an audience, he typically asks how many of them have ever ridden in an automated vehicle. At best, a smattering of hands reach skyward. He then recasts the question: How many have ever used cruise control in their cars?