We are excited to announce the newest additions to the Interfaces of Global Change IGEP, the Rural Environmental Health T32 trainees!

The Rural Environmental Health T32 predoctoral training program at Virginia Tech is a competitive program that provides PhD students with training in environmental health sciences, with a focus on applications in rural landscapes. Trainees will complete rural environmental health specific training covering toxicology, epidemiology, exposure science, and community-based methods. The curriculum also includes the Interfaces of Global Change (IGC) program. REH T32 trainees receive assistantship and tuition support for their first two years of the program.

Welcome to the Interfaces of Global Change Emily and Carly!

REH Fellow

Emily Matthews

2024 Rural Environmental Health T32 Trainee

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Emily is a Ph.D. student in the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Virginia Tech, in Dr. Ryan Calder’s lab. Her main areas of interest include environmental health, public health, and long-range impacts of environmental hazards and interventions. She is currently a graduate research assistant working to develop novel models for soilborne, airborne, and waterborne hazards to vulnerable populations. She is especially interested in the development of models to identify risks to vulnerable rural populations in the context of changing climate and land-use patterns.

Advised by Dr. Ryan Clader.

REH Fellow

Carly Sear

2024 Rural Environmental Health T32 Trainee

Civil and Environmental Engineering

At Virginia Tech, Carly is studying water quality from private wells to better understand contamination patterns. The project uses large-scale data analysis to create a national mapping of contamination profiles, while also applying field sampling campaigns centered in rural, low-income Appalachian communities. The self-collected data will serve as a ground-truthing method to validate results from machine learning to be applied all across the country.

Advised by Dr. Landon Marston and Dr. Alasdair Cohen.