Congratulations, Drs. Gajewski & Hernandez! |
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IGC Fellow Zach Gajewski successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation last Tuesday, July 27th. His seminar was titled, "Measuring and modeling the effects of temperature on the amphibian chytrid fungus and assessing amphibian skin bacterial communities."
Earning his degree from the Department of Biological Sciences, Zach conducted his research in the lab of GCC affiliate Dr. Leah Johnson.
Congratulations, Zach!
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IGC Fellow Jessica Hernandez successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation last Friday, July 30th. Her seminar was titled, "The causes and consequences of variation in the reproductive microbiome of tree swallows."
Earning her degree from the Department of Biological Sciences, Zach conducted her research in the lab of GCC affiliate Dr. Ignacio Moore.
Congratulations, Jessica!
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Graduate Teaching Assistant Opening for New Course: The Science of COVID-19 |
This fall, the Department of Biological Sciences is offering a new course, The Science of COVID-19, and is looking for a Graduate Teaching Assistant. There is flexibility in this position depending on the experience and interest of the person. The goal of this course is to educate undergraduate students on many of the core aspects of Covid-19 from a scientific perspective.
Details about the course and GTA can be found here.
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Open Ph.D. Research Assistantship Position in Wildlife Conservation |
The Escobar lab is searching for a highly motivated graduate student for a fully funded PhD position in the area of distributional ecology for a research project on topics that include remote sensing, landscape ecology, fieldwork in Virginia, and spatial modeling in a project to model the habitat of the bog turtle, a highly endangered species.
Details about the position can be found here.
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Sign Up for Global Change Focused Courses!
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Policy Gateway: Policy and Decision Making in Scientific Domains
Introduction to Microbial Community Analysis
Systems Thinking Pedagogy & Praxis
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IGC Fellows Engage in Science Policy Action through the Virginia-Science Community Interface Coalition |
The Virginia Scientist-Community Interface (V-SCI) is a coalition of scientists and engineers who are dedicated to getting science into the hands of community members. Many Virginia Tech community members and IGC IGEP Fellows, including Daniel Smith and Isaac VanDiest, work at the interface between scientists and nonprofit, grassroots, and community leaders to provide expertise for local and regional advocacy issues. The V-SCI is always recruiting members for ongoing projects and participation in the coalition provides ample opportunities for networking, leadership, and research across many disciplines.
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FACULTY AND FELLOW SPOTLIGHT |
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Dr. Sally Entrekin
- Department of Entomology
GCC affiliate Sally Entrekin is an Associate Professor in Aquatic Entomology in the Department of Entomology. The aim of Sally's research is to understand how aquatic macroinvertebrates process and transfer energy and cycle material in streams and wetlands. Freshwater ecosystems support aquatic invertebrate species vulnerable to environmental alterations that sustain food webs. The Entrekin Lab's current research focuses on how watershed fragmentation, over-consumption of freshwater and contamination from agriculture, urbanization, and hydraulic fracturing interact to alter community structure and ecosystem functions in streams and wetlands. Sally has also been an integral member of the Global Change Center Advisory Committee and instructor of numerous courses such as Aquatic Entomology, Freshwater Biomonitoring, and Restoration Ecology. Apart from her research and academic contributions, she also is active in community outreach through Virginia Tech's Hokie BugCamp. Started in 2012 in collaboration with 4-H Virginia Cooperative Extension, the camp offers hands on experiences to youth seeking to learn about insects and their arthropod relatives. Last weekend, Hokie BugCamp successfully took place at Heritage Park in Blacksburg and focused on the collection, identification of live insects.
For her recent study on Roanoke's Peters Creek with GCC affiliate Cully Hession, click here.
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Kerry Gendreau
- Department of Biological Sciences
Read more on her project and volunteer to join here!
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Call for Proposals! The Welfare and Ecology of Juvenile Wild Animals |
The Wild Animal Initiative is soliciting proposals for research on the welfare, ecology, and everyday experiences of juvenile wild animals. Relevant projects might include studies that extend captive animal welfare assessment techniques to juvenile wild animals, or those that demonstrate how ecological concepts can relate to wild animal health and wellbeing.
Grant sizes will range between $25,000 to $250,000.
Expression of interest deadline: August 29.
Application and details about the program can be found here.
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An Apple for your Health and Health for your Apple: A Review of the Apple Tree Microbiome
Apple trees host diverse communities of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other microbes that occupy all plant surfaces and internal tissues. In the past two decades, our understanding of these communities has burgeoned due to new technologies that allow culture-independent characterization of microbial communities. In a recent publication, GCC affiliate and Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences Susan Whitehead takes advantage of these new technologies to review the apple tree microbiome and how it impacts overall tree health.
For more information on the Whitehead Lab, click here.
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COVID-19 Reveals Vulnerabilities of the Food–Energy–Water Nexus to Viral Pandemics
Food, energy, and water (FEW) sectors are inextricably linked, making one sector vulnerable to disruptions in another. Interactions between FEW systems, viral pandemics, and human health have not been widely studied. In a recently published article, GCC affiliate and Assistant Professor of Environmental Health and Policy in the Public Health Program Ryan Calder mined scientific and news/media articles for causal relations among FEW and COVID-19 variables and qualitatively characterized system dynamics. Overall, it was found that food systems promoted the emergence and spread of COVID-19, leading to illness and death.
For more information on the Calder Models for Environmental Health and Policy Lab, click here.
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GCC Affiliate Deborah Brosnan's Work in International Environmental Law Recently Featured |
We love you, Alberta—just not your tar sands. If the province’s oil is dug up and burned, it will be calculably harder to limit the damage from climate change.
In a recent feature from The New Yorker, GCC affiliate and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences Deborah Brosnan speaks on "ecocide" and why this should be considered a crime. Deborah head a consulting company that helps corporations come to terms with international environmental law. It’s a field that may be changing soon, as a panel of twelve international lawyers last month settled on a definition for “ecocide” to propose to the International Criminal Court. If the court adopts it, it would bring environmental crimes a step closer to being prosecuted there.
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Virginia Tech will Observe its 150th Anniversary this Year
From July 2021 through December 2022, Virginia Tech will observe the 150th anniversary of its founding. The first official sesquicentennial event, which is slated for October in tandem with Homecoming 2021, will be followed by ongoing celebrations that will extend across the commonwealth, nation, and even internationally.This summer, feather flags and post banners designed to commemorate 150 years are being installed in public areas, and Burruss Hall will be illuminated in orange and maroon as the campus dresses for the celebrations ahead.
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Virginia Tech Exceeds 2021 Lights Out!/Power Down! Goal.
For the 12th year in a row, the Virginia Tech community exceeded its goal during the annual Lights Out!/Power Down! event held on June 24 on the Blacksburg campus.
During the designated 90-minute time period (1:45 – 3:15 p.m.), the university reduced its campus electrical power demand to an average of 19,300 kilowatts from 22,300 kilowatts peak earlier in the day, a 3,000-kilowatt reduction. The demand goal for the 2021 event was 20,800 kilowatts for the hour.
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Do you have an opportunity or announcement you'd like to share with the GCC community? Send us an email!
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