Virginia Tech Class of 2025: CMDA Graduate Sejal Gupta Heads to an Applied Math Ph.D.

This article was originally reported in May 2025.

In May 2025, Virginia Tech News profiled Sejal Gupta, a graduating senior from Leesburg, Virginia, who double majored in computational modeling and data analytics (CMDA) and mathematics and was heading to the University of Washington for a Ph.D. in applied mathematics (Virginia Tech News, May 16, 2025). Her path runs through two Virginia Tech programs that prospective students often ask about: the CMDA major in the College of Science and the Calhoun Honors Discovery Program in the Honors College. This article summarizes her story and what applicants should know about both programs today.

Why she chose Virginia Tech

Gupta applied in 2021 and was accepted into the Calhoun Honors Discovery Program before she received her regular admissions decision. She told Virginia Tech News that this was a deciding factor: “I was accepted into this pilot program, and they believed in me — it just made sense.”

She was also drawn to the CMDA major, which was still relatively new when she enrolled. She liked its strong mathematical foundation combined with computer science skills, and summed it up this way: “CMDA is just so flexible, but it’s also very technical, which I think is a really good combination.”

A transdisciplinary team project that went to Venice

In the Calhoun program, students work in teams each year on capstone-style projects: they identify a real-world problem, research it, reach out to stakeholders, analyze the issue and develop possible solutions. Gupta’s team in her final semester included students from graphic design, business information technology, multimedia journalism, creative technologies and industrial design. The team worked on improving astronauts’ sleep in space by designing a sleeping capsule that regulates light and atmospheric conditions. In early May 2025 the team traveled to Venice, Italy, to debut the project at the Biennale Architettura 2025 exhibition, which ran through November.

Courses, internships and research connections

Favorite courses: CMDA 3634, taught by Jason Wilson, and CMDA 4634, a scalable computing course taught by Tim Warburton.
Summer 2025: through a connection made by Warburton, Gupta planned to work on scalable computing at Argonne National Laboratory.
First internship: she landed her first internship as a sophomore after a company that frequently sponsors CMDA capstone projects reached out to CMDA majors.
Next step: many CMDA graduates go straight into industry, but Gupta chose a Ph.D. in applied mathematics at the University of Washington, with the goal of a research-oriented career, possibly in industry.

The Academy of Data Science also listed her among its 2025 CMDA Outstanding Seniors (Virginia Tech Academy of Data Science).

The CMDA major at a glance

Computational Modeling and Data Analytics is a B.S. program in Virginia Tech’s College of Science, run with the Academy of Data Science. It draws on three departments, mathematics, statistics and computer science, and its own courses combine all three (Academy of Data Science: CMDA).

Tracks: the university’s major page lists six options: the standard track plus biological sciences, cryptography and network security, economics, geosciences and physics (Virginia Tech: Computational Modeling and Data Analytics).
Foundation: students take the integrated quantitative science sequence CMDA 2005/2006 (6 credits each).
Capstone: CMDA 4864 is a 3-credit course in which teams of three to five students work on a data problem for a client. The CMDA Capstone Project Program pairs these teams with corporate sponsors, and those sponsors are a common route to internships, as Gupta’s experience shows.
Careers: the academy lists fields such as finance and insurance, consulting and government contracting, health care, pharmaceuticals, sports analytics, national security and defense, big tech and cloud computing, media and marketing, and public policy. Many students add a minor or a double major, as Gupta did with mathematics.

Can new students still join the Calhoun Honors Discovery Program?

Probably not in its original form. The Honors College describes the Calhoun Honors Discovery Program as a four-year pilot, funded by a gift from alumnus David Calhoun ’79, that “combines a structured disciplinary education with an open-ended, collaborative, and transdisciplinary discovery process” with faculty, industry and nonprofit partners. The program page says it “is at capacity with 140 students,” and that only the classes of 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 can earn its Honors Collaborative Discovery Diploma (Virginia Tech Honors College: About the Calhoun Discovery Program). Gupta’s Class of 2025 was one of those pilot cohorts. Applicants interested in this kind of team-based honors work should ask the Honors College what is offered for their entering class.

The Honors College itself remains open to incoming first-year students. There is no separate application: applicants check the Honors College box on the Virginia Tech undergraduate application or the Common App. The Honors College has no minimum test scores and reviews applicants holistically, looking at experiences and engagement, self-awareness and reflection. Eligible students receive a separate Honors College decision soon after their Virginia Tech admissions decision (Virginia Tech Honors College: Apply).

What international students should know

Virginia Tech at a glance: Virginia Tech is No. 52 in the 2027 U.S. News National Universities ranking. The university received 57,622 first-year applications for fall 2025 and admitted 31,460; total enrollment that fall was 38,995, including 4,074 international students (Virginia Tech fall 2025 census).
Cost: for 2026–27, out-of-state (including international) undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees at the Blacksburg campus are $40,180, and room and board is $15,032, for a total of $55,212 for a nonresident living on campus (Virginia Tech News, April 14, 2026).
Internships on an F-1 visa: off-campus internships during the degree require Curricular Practical Training (CPT). After SEVP’s August 2026 guidance on CPT, Virginia Tech’s Cranwell International Center paused new CPT authorizations except for programs in which practical training is required; students generally must complete one academic year of full-time study first (Cranwell International Center: CPT). Check the current rules before counting on a sophomore-year internship like Gupta’s.
Graduate school: Gupta’s next stop, the University of Washington, is No. 49 in the 2027 U.S. News National Universities ranking.

For admissions statistics, costs and international student data, see our Virginia Tech school page.

References

#Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University #Interdisciplinary Education #Data Science