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MAY
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Congratulations to Dr. Jonathan Doubek in the Department of Biological Sciences, for passing his Ph.D. defense on Thursday, April 26, 2018 in Derring Hall. His dissertation seminar was titled “The effects of hypoxia on zooplankton communities in lakes and reservoirs”.
Jon joined the IGC program and the Carey Lab in Fall 2013, as a Ph.D. candidate studying freshwater biology. His primary research focus is quantifying how multiple stressors (e.g. land use changes, climate change, invasive species and nutrient loading) ...
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MAY
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MAY
April 4, 2018 | Each year, the Graduate School offers a challenge to graduate students: Create and implement a project that connects your research with a community.
Students who accept the challenge and develop such projects are recognized as Citizen Scholars. The Graduate School offers a Citizen Scholar course each year to help students fulfill this goal, but students can be nominated for recognition by their programs.
“I consider the ...
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APR
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Views from the Graduate Seminar
By Rachel Brooks, GCC Fellow & PhD Student
As the Global Change program develops, so do the required courses for the PhD-students and Fellows. This year we added a new “advanced” seminar session that is student lead and designed. After a few introductory seminars lead by Jeff Walters and Bruce Hull, we (the students) spent time brainstorming and planning the rest of the semester. With the help of numerous sticky notes and a few whiteboard markers, our seminar agenda emerged: practicing science ...
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MAR
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MAR
IGC Fellow, Tony Timpano will defend his Ph.D. dissertation on Tuesday morning, August 29, 2017, at 9:00 a.m. in Fralin Hall Auditorium.
His seminar title is: “Toward Improved Assessment of Freshwater Salinization as a Benthic Macroinvertebrate Stressor.”
Please join us! Coffee and refreshments will be served beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Related:
Tony Timpano’s work in water quality research is at the intersection of science and policy
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AUG
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AUG
Congratulations to Mary Lofton, who received the Leo Bourassa Award from the Virginia Lakes and Watershed Association for her research on the effects of water quality management on phytoplankton blooms in Virginia reservoirs! This award was chosen based on her contributions to the field of water resources in the commonwealth of Virginia and goes to the top graduate student doing water research in VA!
On top of this honor, Mary also received the $5000 grant from the Virginia Water Resources ...
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JUL
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JUL
Congratulations to IGC Fellow, Jessica Hernandez, who was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) in 2017!
Jessica is a doctoral student in biological sciences in the College of Science. She works in the lab of Dr. Ignacio Moore, where research focuses on better understanding how animals respond, both behaviorally and physiologically, to their constantly changing social and physical environments.
For her dissertation, Jessica will study a free-living population of polyandrous female tree swallows (Tachcineta bicolor) ...
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JUN
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JUN
Maya Wilson is a graduate student in Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech and a fellow in the Interfaces of Global Change Program. She is researching the ecology and life history of the Bahama Swallow, an endangered species endemic to the Bahamas. Maya is one of the dedicated young scholars who were awarded the BirdsCaribbean David S. Lee Fund Grant and her work is critical to understanding the Bahama Swallow and informing conservation strategies. Here, she discusses her ...
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JUN
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JUN
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
“I am currently lodging in Half-Assini, a border town between Ghana and our western neighboring country, Ivory Coast. I spent most of my day at Elubo, another border town about 45 minutes-drive from Half-Assini, in search of O. niloticus samples. Wednesdays are market days in Elubo and an opportune time to scout for wild-caught O. niloticus. This is especially important because Ghana shares the Tano River with Ivory Coast and the data generated will be useful for conserving ...
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JUN
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JUN
Sydney Hope, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation and a Fellow in the Interfaces of Global Change IGEP, recently received a travel award from the National Science Foundation’s GROW Program (Graduate Research Opportunities Worldwide). The GROW Program expands opportunities for graduate students to engage in international research collaboration.
During Spring and Summer 2018, Sydney will travel to the town of Villiers-en-Bois in western France to work with a sponsoring scientist, Dr. Frédéric Angelier, at the Centre d’Etudes ...
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JUN
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JUN
Smithsonian Scientists Release Frogs Wearing Mini Radio Transmitters Into Panamanian Wilderness
Lisa Belden, Angie Estrada, and Daniel Medina are Global Change Center affiliates in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech. Their amphibian research was recently featured in the following video and online article at The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. The article originally appeared as a blog post on the website of the Amphibian Rescue & Conservation Project.
“Ninety Limosa harlequin frogs (Atelopus limosus) bred in human care are braving the elements of ...
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JUN
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JUN
We are excited to announce:
IGC Fellow, Laura Schoenle, gave her Ph.D. defense seminar on Friday, May 26, 2017, at 9:30 a.m. in 4069 Derring Hall. Laura, who was advised by Dr. Ignacio Moore and Dr. Fran Bonier, is now Dr. Laura Schoenle! She will be starting a Post-doctoral position in New York in August.
Coping with chronic infection: The role of glucocorticoid hormones in mediating resistance and tolerance to parasites
ABSTRACT:
Parasite infections are ubiquitous, but the consequences to hosts can ...
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MAY
By Lisa Belden, with IGC Fellows Daniel Medina and Angie Estrada
Sunday, 7:46am
I am chugging café con leche and downing a whole plate of fresh papaya and pineapple while I wait for Dani to pick me up at the hotel. It was a late night, with a delayed flight from Atlanta to Panama City, but I am anxious to get out to the field with Dani and Angie today. Dani arrives and we weave our way through crazy ...
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Carl Wepking, a member of the Strickland Lab, is this year’s recipient of the COS Roundtable Make-a-Difference Scholarship for Graduate Study.
The Scholarship, established by the College of Science’s Roundtable alumni advisory board, recognizes graduate students who stand to make a significant difference to the college and the world outside of the university, and comes with a $7000 award. Previous recipients include Kwang-Hyung Kim (2008, Lawrence lab), Sharmistha Mitra (2012, Capelluto lab), and Ariel Leon (2016, Hawley lab).
Congratulations on this ...
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Manure from cattle administered antibiotics drastically changes the bacterial and fungal make-up of surrounding soil, leading to ecosystem dysfunction, according to a Virginia Tech research team.
The team analyzed soil samples from 11 dairy farms in the United States and found that the amount of antibiotic resistant genes was 200 times greater in soil near manure piles compared with soil that wasn’t.
Furthermore, microbes with greater antibiotic resistance showed higher stress levels. Their findings were published March 29 in ...
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A Virginia Tech graduate student is living in one of the hottest and driest countries in the world this semester so that he can study how climate change, land management, and other human-caused phenomena impact a community of animals known as the cavity guild.
Composed of birds, reptiles, mammals, amphibians, and invertebrates, the cavity guild, biologically speaking, is a group of animals that depend on holes and crevices in trees for their ...
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MAR
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MAR
We are proud of IGC Fellow, Max Ragozzino, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Entomology at Virginia Tech. Max recently participated in the Center of Communicating Science’s “Nutshell Games”, where graduate students were encouraged to describe their research “in a 90-second nutshell”. Max nailed this challenge and tied with two other contestants for first place!
Congratulations, Max!
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MAR
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MAR
From the blog of the National Center for Science in the Classroom
By this point in the school year, I hope that you have heard of NCSE’s Scientist in the Classroom program. But if not, please check it out!
In designing the program, we wanted to be sure that scientists and teachers were able to work together to come up with a hands-on activity that fit in with what was going on in the classroom as opposed to a prescribed activity. ...
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NOV
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NOV
Sydney Hope, a Ph.D. student in the Hopkins Lab, visited Franklin County High School on Friday, November 4, 2016 to speak about her research and experience as a scientist as part of the school’s “Moment of Science” program. The “Moment of Science” takes place during the activity period on select days and the school brings speakers in to talk about different aspects of science. All students from grades 9-12 are invited to attend.
Sydney spoke about her research on how incubation temperature ...
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NOV
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NOV
IGC Fellow, Angie Estrada was awarded the SENACYT-IFARHU Doctoral Fellowship 2016. She will receive three years of support to continue her graduate education in the Department of Biological Sciences under Dr. Lisa Belden’s supervision.
SENACYT (National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation) is Panama’s government authority in charge of planning and implementing the national strategy of science and technology. It is the equivalent to the NSF in the United Sates. SENACYT supports outstanding Panamanian students who are pursuing undergraduate, graduate ...
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OCT
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OCT