2017-18 News Stories

In today’s competitive research environment, developing an innovative and compelling project that makes an impact is more important than ever.

Peter Vikesland, professor of the civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has been named the Nick Prillaman Professor in Engineering by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

William Hopkins receives Mitchell A. Byrd Award for outstanding achievement in ornithology.

Fred Benfield, professor of ecology and alumnus in the College of Science’s Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the title of professor emeritus by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

Each year, the Graduate School offers a challenge to graduate students: Create and implement a project that connects your research with a community.

Frank O. Aylward has been selected as a 2018 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow in Ocean Sciences.

The environment is teeming with microbes. Soil, water, indoor surfaces, our own bodies — any habitat that hasn’t been rigorously sterilized is populated by thousands of species of interdependent bacteria, viruses, and other microscopic organisms.

Edward Fox was an undergraduate on the cusp of launching his career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when he joined the Association for Computing Machinery.

In a study involving 19 European Union nations, researchers have found that future climate change will make power outages more costly for European households.

A study led by Leandro Castello explores how deforestation along the Amazon River floodplain affects fisheries yields.

VT scientists have discovered that invasive plant species are essentially able to change in order to thrive on new continents and in different types of climates, challenging the assumption that species occupy the same environment in native and invasive ranges.

When most Americans think of New Zealand, images of sprawling fantasy landscapes may come to mind; however for Brian Strahm, it’s all about trees.

Small amounts of oil exposure affected the health of birds in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a Virginia Tech research team.

Ben Vernasco, a IGC IGEP Fellow, worked on a study that aimed to identify characteristics that promote healthy wood thrush populations on U.S. Department of Defense land.

Kendra Sewall, recently received a National Science Foundation CAREER grant to expand her studies of the “sweet” spot of optimum social interaction — the point at which brain function is improved.

It all started with a few phone calls to check in on friends at Texas A&M and the University of Florida. After hurricanes Harvey and Irma battered the southern coastline...

IGC IGEP Fellows seeks to establish which strains farmers are growing in the country, and whether these include the unapproved strains of genetically improved farm tilapia (GIFT).

Scientists funded by NSF develop model to explore scenarios for land and watershed restoration.

Dr. Cayelan Carey and Dr. Madeline Schreiber recently received a Junior Faculty Award from the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science. Their project is titled: Rapid elemental fluxes in freshwater systems.

The Paleobiology Research Group had a busy summer in Africa and the western United States, and now they're inviting the public to a party to unpack their specimens, which include dinosaurs, phytosaurs, and other reptiles.

An extreme weather event can drastically change the structure of an ecosystem for many years to come, according to a team of ecologists working in Antarctica that includes Jeb Barrett with the Global Change Center.

As sea levels rise, coastal property owners will have a pivotal role in protecting tidal wetlands and their ecological, economic, and recreational benefits.

In a literature review published in the journal Reviews on Environmental Health, the team argues that more research needs to be conducted to determine how the unique topography and industries of the region, including coal and natural gas, impact the health of people living in the region.