Since graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1983 with a degree in Civil Engineering, Zane Mitchell has excelled in two divergent fields-the military and academia.



His first stint after leaving the Academy was a year of pilot training at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona, where he earned the Air Training Command Academic Award. In 1984 he continued flight training at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona as a co-pilot for the EC-130H, a tactical command, control and communications aircraft. During his five years at Davis-Monthan, he flew worldwide operational missions and became an instructor pilot.



In 1989, around the time Iraq invaded Kuwait, Zane was transferred to Griffiss Air Force Base in New York as a B-52 Aircraft Commander. He flew more than 100 combat hours while performing 21 missions in Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield. His squadron won the Ryan Trophy for Best Bomb Squadron in the Strategic Air Command and the crew under his command was named "Crew of the Year."



After the Gulf War, Zane remained at Griffiss AFB, working with B-52 operations and earning his M.B.A. at Renesselaer Polytechnic Institute. In 1992 he came to Virginia Tech to begin graduate studies in Civil Engineering, with Dr. Yvan Beliveau as his advisor. While working on his M.S., which he completed in 1993, Zane conducted an historical study of the construction of the Panama Canal and wrote a copyrighted case study of construction accounting that has since been used in graduate courses at Virginia Tech.



Zane returned to the Air Force Academy in 1993 as an Instructor of Civil Engineering. Two years later, he was promoted to Assistant Professor by the Academy and began doctoral studies at Virginia Tech. Working with his advisor, Dr. Michael Vorster of CEE, Zane specialized in construction management, conducting a published study of interstate highway maintenance and completing a dissertation on construction equipment maintenance and repair costs.



After completing his Ph.D. in 1998, and while still on the Academy faculty, Zane served as Chief of Combat Operations for a Joint Task Force to Southeast Asia, supervising a multi-national team in support of the military's Operation Southern Watch.



The next year he was appointed as a Deputy for Construction Practices in the Academy's Department of Civil Engineering, overseeing seven officer and civilian faculty. He passed the Professional Engineering examination and a Registered P.E. in Colorado in Spring 1999. In May 2000, he was named Deputy Department Head of Operations for the Department and supervised a 25-course curriculum and 19 faculty.



He also served as one of the Academy's instructor pilots for the UV-18B Otter, as head coach for the mountain biking team, which placed second in the nation in 2000, and as assistant coach of the cycling team, which placed first in the nation in 2001.



Lt. Col. Mitchell left the Academy in June 2001 to become Director of Operations for the 11th Air Support Operations Squadron at Fort Hood in Texas. His 68-person, 25-vehicle unit provides Air Force support for the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division.



Zane and his wife, Robyn Krutchkoff, a 1993 Virginia Tech graduate in Psychology, have twin sons. Keith and Bryan, reports their Dad, will enter the first grade this year and are avid Lego engineers.