Virginia Tech announced the formation of three internal working groups Thursday to look into the April 16 shootings from a university perspective the same day Tech President Charles Steger was in Richmond for the inaugural meeting of a state panel with a similar task.

Several of the points Steger made in his speech to the panel Thursday echoed an e-mail he sent to the university's deans, directors and department heads Wednesday about the working groups.

The state panel, charged with examining all aspects about the shootings and the shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, is expected to produce its recommendations before classes begin at state colleges in the fall. While Steger said state and national investigations, as well as internal review reports by Tech, will thoroughly investigate the shootings, other aspects of university policies need to be examined as well. That's where the working groups come in.

"In addition to understanding the incidents, we will be looking at three broad areas: telecommunications infrastructure; the physical infrastructure as it relates to safety and security; and most importantly, the internal protocols for information exchange," Steger told the panel in Richmond.

The three working groups are labeled "telecommunications infrastructure," "security infrastructure" and "interface between counseling services, academic affairs, judicial affairs and the legal system."

The last committee, singled out in its importance by Steger, will be led by James Hyatt, Tech's executive vice president and chief operating officer. The focus of the three groups will be to improve Tech's infrastructure and systems as they relate to emergencies.

In his e-mail, Steger explained the critical importance of communicating good information by citing the university's response to reports of escaped prisoner William Morva on campus in August, which led Tech to close the university on the first day of classes.

"As we reflect on the lessons of the Morva incident, there was a substantial amount of misinformation in circulation," he said. "This misinformation resulted in emergency evacuation of buildings that could have placed people in harm's way."

Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said Thursday that the working groups will need to establish parameters for exactly what they plan to study, but the purview of the telecommunications and security groups is fairly straightforward. The other group will focus on internal communications and what type of information can legally be shared, such as mental health records.

The telecommunications group will be led by Erv Blythe, Tech's vice president for information technology. The security group will be led by Jerry Niles, outgoing dean of Tech's College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.

The groups will begin working no later than Tuesday and will have preliminary reports completed no later than Aug. 15, Steger said in his e-mail, in which he asked for cooperation to help the investigation.

"It is our hope to learn about the strengths and areas for improvement of our existing systems."