Faculty Research
We’re bringing all our knowledge and skills to the table
There are more pressures and demands being placed on our planet’s resources than ever before, and, thus, there is also a greater need to preserve and build capacity for the future. Our faculty are tackling these challenges as they engage in applied and practical research that seeks to help us understand and solve some of our most complex global problems. Along the way, they are also training the next generation of leaders and policymakers who will carry on this legacy.
Jennifer Russell is blazing a new path that will merge research about natural resources and materials science with an innovative perspective incorporating environmental resources considerations with social and economic benefits.
She co-authored a U.N. report about realigning the manufacturing industry to decrease waste and stimulate economic growth and received a National Science Foundation grant to tackle the challenge of recycling polyurethane foams by applying life-cycle thinking.
We’re taking on the big issues — and we won’t give up
As a society, the environmental challenges we are facing can seem overwhelming. That’s why a sense of optimism is critical and drives our faculty-led research projects. The work that is happening in the college impacts management and policy decisions related to every aspect and area of the natural environment, from the atmosphere to what’s on the ground, in the soil, and in the water.
Below are just a few of the critical research areas in which CNRE faculty are working. Click on each to read more about recent research:
- Agroforestry production and markets
- Atmospheric flash droughts
- Atmospheric processes and tornado risks
- Bird feeding and human well-being
- Clean water in India
- Circular economic model
- Communities adapting to rising seas
- Conservation of big cats in Belize
- Disappearance of hellbenders
- Ecological forecasting
- Geographic biases in ChatGPT
- How people interact with spaces
- Impacts of salt in freshwater streams
- Merging wildlife conservation and community health
- Population and distribution of flounder
- Shark catch and mortality rates
- Soil carbon processes
- Virus transmission from vampire bats
Our faculty are world-renowned experts in their fields
They are scholars, researchers, innovators, and change agents. They are leaders who take on the problems of the world and look for solutions, and then teach those who will follow them to ensure that their work will continue.
They are the world’s experts and they are right here at Virginia Tech.
Luis Escobar wants to answer the unsolved questions of how, when, and where cross-species virus transmission might next occur in wildlife. He’s traveled to Columbia with student researchers to understand how vampire bats can help predict and prevent the next pandemic.
Escobar has received a National Institute of Health award to study the spread of rabies to humans, as well as National Science Foundation funding to research the transmission of hantavirus as a means to determine how climate change may influence virus spillover.
Faculty research in the news
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New study views wildlife through the lens of diversity , articleThe study from the College of Natural Resources and Environment reveals that social support is a key driver for diverse participation in wildlife viewing.
Date: Aug 08, 2024 -
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Tradition meets transformation for Maasai women , articleA new study by Virginia Tech Associate Professor Tim Baird reveals that a changing Africa is creating avenues of empowerment for Maasai women.
Date: Aug 02, 2024 -
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Genome study informs restoration of American chestnut tree , articleResearchers in the College of Natural and Environmental Sciences in collaboration with the American Chestnut Foundation use genomes to help restore the American chestnut population and adjust species breeding to the changing climate.
Date: Jul 18, 2024