The GCC WEEKLY | October 4 2022 | |
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GCC Team Awarded NSF Grant to Assess How Salt in Freshwater Streams Impacts Aquatic Ecosystems
Faculty associated with the GCC Freshwater Salinization Working Group have been awarded a NSF grant to investigate how changes in salinity from mining could impact aquatic food webs. Headwater streams are becoming more and more contaminated by salt as a result of agriculture, mining, urbanization and wastewater discharge. The team’s research will focus on streams in the Appalachian Mountains, where surface coal mining covers about 2,200 square miles of the region, and has resulted in accelerated leaching of salts into the headwater streams leading to changes in organisms and likely their functions.
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Sally Entrekin (Entomology) is seeking applications for a paid graduate student position as part of a collaborative project on food webs and carbon cycling in mining- impacted, salinized streams. The selected MSc or PhD student will be co-advised by GCC affiliates Sally Entrekin and Stephen Schoenholtz (Virginia Water Resources Research Center Director and Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation). The student will receive at least two academic years (fall and spring semesters) and three summers of salary support as a Graduate Research Assistant on the NSF-funded collaborative project, and will need to be available to start their degree program in August 2023.
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Postdoc Opportunity in Data Science for Wildfire Analytics at University of Western Ontario, Canada
Applicants are invited for a Postdoctoral Associate in Statistical Data Science to be conducted under the supervision of Dr. Douglas Woolford and Dr. Charmaine Dean at the Wildland Fire Science Laboratory in the Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences at the University of Western Ontario located in London, Ontario, Canada. The successful applicant will develop and apply statistical/biostatistical tools for the modeling of complex spatio-temporal data for environmental and other processes with an emphasis on collaborative research on wildland fire science and management.
This is a one-year (12 month) position with the possibility of renewal; available immediately with a preferred start date of on or before January 1, 2023.
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Paul Risteca
Biological Sciences
| Paul is a PhD student in Dr. Jeb Barrett’s lab in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech. His research is focused on the effects of climate change and the resulting changes in hydrological connectivity on soil community dynamics and nutrient cycling in polar soil ecosystems. His research is being conducted in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) of Antarctica and is part of the NSF’s Long-term Ecological Research Program. He is interested in mapping microbial communities across spatial and temporal gradients throughout the MDVs, characterizing their genomic capacity with respect to overall ecosystem function and stress tolerance, and understanding how microbial communities recover from seasonal and experimentally imposed disturbances. | |
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Blacksburg's Food Cycle event returns for its third year this weekend. This "fun(d)-raising" event is a bike-based food drive, where participants pedal around town purchasing food items for those in need. IGC Fellow Caleb O'Brien is again one of the lead organizers of the event! All donations from the Food Cycle will go to local non-profits Micah’s Backpack and the Pulaski Free Store. Donations accepted by non-bikers, too!
Saturday October 8, 1:00 - 4:00 PM ET
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The Poverty Creek Trails Coalition (PCTC) creates, maintains, and improves multi-use trail systems in the New River Valley through coordinated volunteer effort. As a member of the group's community board, you can catch IGC Fellow Kirsten Bretz out building trails with the PCTC crew! She's promoting this upcoming fundraiser event to help the group purchase equipment that will vastly expedite their ability to create and maintain new and existing trails in the New River Valley area.
Thursday October 13, 6:00 PM ET
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GCC and IGC Affiliates Tackle Weedy and Invasive Plant Problems at Summer Contests as Part of Virginia Tech's Weeds Team
IGC Fellow Prashasti Agarwal is among the graduate students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences who participated in two collegiate weed science contests aside competitors from the United States and Canada. Members of Virginia Tech’s Weeds Team regularly participate in these annual contests, which test students’ knowledge of herbicide symptomology, weed identification, sprayer calibration, and field diagnosis of plant problems. The coaches of the 2022 award-winning team were School of Plant and Environmental Sciences Professors: GCC affiliate Jacob Barney, Michael Flessner, and Shawn Askew.
Congrats, Prashasti & Jacob!
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