June 29, 2021
ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Congratulations to the Interfaces of Global Change IGEP 2021-22 Global Change Interdisciplinary Graduate Assistantship Awardees!
Please join us in congratulating Chloe Moore, Luciana Alves Pereira, Meredith Semel, and Sara Teemer Richards as the recipients of this year’s IGC Fellowship!

The Interfaces of Global Change IGEP awards four Ph.D. fellowships every academic year, each covering tuition and stipend. These graduate research assistantships are awarded based on the student’s professional credentials, the student’s level of engagement in the IGC IGEP, pertinence of the student’s research to global change, the interdisciplinary nature of the work, and the student’s plan for using the one-year fellowship.

Congratulations Chloe, Luciana, Meredith, and Sara!
GCC Undergraduate Research Grant Awardees Present at Dennis Dean Research Conference
In a year complicated by the global pandemic, three recipients of Global Change Center Undergraduate Research Grants succeeded in conducting impactful research and presented their work at a conference attended by hundreds of Virginia Tech students and faculty. Omar West, Tess Alexander, and Ash VanWinkle displayed their ability to communicate complex research by presenting at the Dennis Dean Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship Conference held this past April. Each student, under the mentorship of a GCC-affiliated faculty member, showcased their creative and scholarly accomplishments on three diverse research projects.

Please join us in commending Omar, Tess, and Ash on their remarkable research accomplishments!
GCC Affiliate Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz Receives NSF CAREER Award, Department of Energy Grant to Study Atmospheric Gases

GCC affiliate Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award and a Department of Energy Early Career Research Program grant to quantify the removal of dangerous gases from the atmosphere and estimate their impact on concentrations of air pollution around the globe. These five-year grants are the top honors from these agencies awarded to early-career faculty to lead advances in education and research. The NSF grant will support collaborations with regional partners to bring Gabriel's science to the public and provide valuable opportunities for outreach and broad engagement. 

Please join us in congratulating Gabriel on this outstanding research achievement!
Congratulations, Dr. Bennett Grooms!
IGC Fellow Bennett Grooms successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation on June 18th. His seminar was titled, "Exploring wildlife recreationists' conservation behaviors and perceptions of state fish and wildlife agencies to inform conservation engagement and support".

Earning his degree from the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Bennett conducted his research in the lab of GCC affiliate Dr. Ashley Dayer. Future plans include pursuing potential postdoc opportunities.

Congratulations, Bennett!
Fralin Undergraduate Research Fellowship Accepting Applications!
The Fralin Undergraduate Research Fellowship is a competitive award program that is open to all Virginia Tech undergraduates with a goal of increasing diversity in research. Fifteen (15) fellowships of $1,000 will be awarded annually to students demonstrating academic capability and a strong interest in undergraduate research, enabling them to conduct research with a faculty mentor over the course of one academic year.



Student Application Deadline: August 2, 2021 at 5pm EST.
Faculty Endorsement Deadline: August 5, 2021 at 5pm EST.

Application and details about the fellowship can be found here.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
IGC Alumni Spotlight: Dr. Heather Govenor 
Interfaces of Global Change (IGC) alumna Dr. Heather Govenor currently serves as Certified Senior Ecologist at EnSafe in nearby Radford, Virginia. With over 20 years of consulting experience, she works in interdisciplinary teams composed of geologists, chemists, and engineers to determine appropriate remedial actions to protect ecological resources.

FACULTY AND FELLOW SPOTLIGHT
Dr. Mark Barrow
- Department of History

GCC affiliate Mark Barrow is Professor and the former Chair of the History Department at Virginia Tech. Barrow is the author of two books — Nature’s Ghosts: Confronting Extinction from the Age of Jefferson to the Age of Ecology and A Passion for Birds: American Ornithology after Audubon. His current research focuses on changing attitudes toward human-induced extinction, primarily in the United States, from the 18th century to the Endangered Species Act of 1973. He is also pursuing work on the cultural history of the American alligator. Recently, Mark was selected to join the steering committee of a new Food Studies minor. Launched last fall, the Food Studies Program is an effort to forge community around food studies from a humanities and social science perspective in service to faculty, staff, students, and the public.

Luke Goodman
- Biological Systems Engineering

Luke began his Ph.D. in Department of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech under the advisement of Dr. Durrelle Scott in 2020. Before joining VT, he completed a degree in Animal Ecology and Environmental Studies at Iowa State University. He feels compelled to mitigate the issues facing our riverine systems amidst a changing climate. Luke’s research interests include studying how we can sustainably manage our rivers on a watershed-scale to benefit both people and the environment. Luke’s interest in the natural world originally came from exploring the forests, prairies, and wetlands surrounding his home in rural Iowa. He aspires to leverage both science and policy to address the large-scale problem of how we manage our watersheds in a changing climate.

AROUND CAMPUS
Present at the 2021 Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium!
Virginia Tech's Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) is hosting the annual VT Summer Research Symposium. This conference is aimed at offering participants in organized summer research programs and undergraduate researchers at large the opportunity to gain experience communicating their research. This virtual conference will host 5-minute video presentations with live discussion threads to enable attendees to interaction with the presenters.

Conference will take place Thursday, July 29, 2021 from 10am to 3pm

Student Application Deadline: July 19 at 5pm.
Conference Video Submission Deadline: July 26 at 9am.

Application and details about the conference can be found here.

NEWSWORTHY
Innovative Research Project Led by GCC Faculty Affiliate Cayelan Carey Receives Dean’s Discovery Fund Award

The Virginia Tech College of Science Lay Nam Chang Dean’s Discovery Fund recently announced research awards that will support diverse projects such as water quality, discovery of drugs for pain and viruses, mental health treatment, and economics forecasting. GCC affiliate and associate professor of biological sciences Cayelan Carey received a research award for the project, "Using a Nanoscale to Whole-Ecosystem Scale Approach to Examine the Role of Reactive Metal Hydroxide Nanoparticles in Drinking Water Reservoirs" with co-investigator Marc Michel. The Dean’s Discovery Fund was established in 2017 by former College of Science Dean Sally C. Morton to support innovative ideas and research. Since its inception, grants from this fund have supported research and education programs valuing more than $510,000.

GCC Affiliate Francesco Ferretti Leads Great White Shark Research Expedition in the Mediterranean
GCC affiliate and assistant professor in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation Francesco Ferretti leads an expedition to study great white sharks in the Sicilian Channel. This relatively small waterway in the Mediterranean lies between Sicily and the coast of Tunisia. Along with IGC Fellow Brendan Shea, Francesco is working with the Discovery Channel through their The Explorers Club Discovery Expedition grant program to film footage for a potential documentary.

GCC Affiliate Leigh-Anne Krometis Speaks on Safe Drinking Water in West Virginia

GCC faculty affiliate & associate professor at Virginia Tech's Department of Biological Systems Engineering Leigh-Anne Krometis discusses her lab's research and the importance of clean drinking water in central Appalachia. The article highlight's Leigh-Anne's commitment to surveying the water quality in our region and advocacy for broader access to safe drinking water for all residents.

GCC Affiliate Carl Zipper's New Book Explores Coal's Legacy and Appalachia's Future

Carl Zipper, GCC affiliate and professor emeritus in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, co-edited “Appalachia’s Coal-Mined Landscapes: Resources and Communities in a New Energy Era” with Jeff Skousen, a professor of soil science in the Division of Plant and Soil Sciences at West Virginia University. After a career researching environmental effects of fossil-fuel production including Appalachian coal mining, Carl collaborated with multiple experts from across Appalachia to produce the book, which was published in late 2020 through Springer.

Do you have an opportunity or announcement you'd like to share with the GCC community? Send us an email!
The Global Change Center is a strategic initiative of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute

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