Global Change Center at Virginia Tech

Are you working with #OpenData to advance #freshwater #biogeochemistry? Consider submitting an abstract to share your science in our special session at #2026SFS!

Organized by Ashif H Abir, Wil Wollheim, me, & Kelly Aho @kellyaho.bsky.social. Abstracts due 16 Jan 2026. www.sfsannualmeeting.org 💧🌎🧪

Dr. Claudia Nunez-Penichet recently received a Travel Award from the Invasive Species Collaborative to attend #Entomology2025 in Portland, Oregon! Claudia presented her research in a talk entitled "Forecasting Invasion Hotspots in a Changing North America". 🪲🌲

Warming climate could harm mollusk populations in the western Atlantic The consequences of a warming climate are known to be dangerous for marine ecosystems, with environmental changes like ocean acidification and warming, disrupted nutrient supplies, and rising sea…

🐚🌊 Warming oceans & rising acidification could shrink mollusk habitats in the western Atlantic by 60%, according to GCC postdoctoral affiliate Dr. Claudia Nuñez-Penichet.

Her research highlights both the risks & the power of human action to protect marine life.

Saving a salamander may require human intervention Virginia Tech researchers William Hopkins and Erin Hotchkiss and Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources biologists are rearing hellbender salamander eggs in captivity to help stabilize eastern…

🦎💧 GCC’s Dr. William Hopkins & Dr. Erin Hotchkiss are partnering with Virginia DWR to restore eastern hellbenders.

By giving eggs & juveniles a “head start” in captivity, they boost survival & support long-term recovery – while habitat restoration improves stream health.

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Ecological forecasting research team crosses ecosystem boundaries A $1 million, four-year National Science Foundation grant will help better understand how natural hazards impact the forest and soils that control the water quality that ends up in drinking water…

🌎💧 GCC faculty affiliates Drs. Quinn Thomas, Cayelan Carey & Ryan Calder are part of a team awarded a $1M NSF grant to link land & water forecasting.

Their system will predict reservoir water quality days to months ahead – incorporating wildfires, floods, or droughts.

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Senior design team works to restore Wythe County stream Last year, flooding from Hurricane Helene damaged a section of Cripple Creek in Ivanhoe, Virginia. Students in Jon Czuba's Biological Systems Engineering class are working with stream specialists at…

🌊 After Hurricane Helene, GCC affiliate Dr. Jon Czuba and VT students are helping restore Cripple Creek in Ivanhoe, VA. Partnering with Trout Unlimited, they’re designing real-world streambank solutions that protect ecosystems and communities. 💧

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Up to $40 million in federal funding fuels research to revolutionize clean indoor air With the contract from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, an interdisciplinary research team led by Virginia Tech and Linsey Marr will create a “smoke alarm” for airborne contaminants…

🏢💨 Buildings that protect occupants from germs?

GCC’s Dr. Linsey Marr leads a $40M ARPA-H project (with Drs. Amy Pruden & Peter Vikesland) to develop smart systems that detect airborne pathogens & automatically adjust ventilation, filtration, or UV light to keep air healthy.

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A skeleton and a shell? Ancient fossil finally finds home on the tree of life A tiny fossil found in Southwestern Virginia eluded classification for more than 514 million years. Now, Virginia Tech geoscientists have restored this unique organism into its evolutionary lineage.

🦠 After 514M years, Salterella finally finds its place on the tree of life!

A new study co-authored by GCC’s Dr. Shuhai Xiao places this puzzling Cambrian fossil within the cnidarians — shedding light on the origins of animal skeletons & shells 🌊🔬

Mary Lofton earns Ecological Forecasting Outstanding Publication Award ​​The Center for Ecosystem Forecasting is looking years ahead to train the next generation of ecosystem forecasters, environmental data scientists, and water managers with their Macrosystems EDDIE…

🏆 Congrats to GCC's Dr. Mary Lofton — recipient of the Ecological Forecasting Outstanding Publication Award from the Ecological Society of America!

Her 2024 BioScience study assessed the Macrosystems EDDIE program, which has reached 35K+ students at 50+ institutions worldwide 🌍

Virginia Tech researcher Shannon Bell at Hardings Ginseng Farm, located in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, where ginseng is cultivated and grown. Photo courtesy of Shannon Bell.

📚 Discover the stories shaping Appalachia

Join GCC faculty affiliate Dr. Shannon Bell on Oct. 27 (12:15–1:15 PM) for her #HumanitiesWeek talk: “Honoring the Understories: Seeing Beyond the Coalfields Imaginary in Central Appalachia.”

📍 Newman Library 124
🔗 rebrand.ly/725e41

Graduate fellows step up as climate adaptation leaders The Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center is a federal-university-tribal research partnership that provides scientific information and tools needed to help fish, wildlife, and ecosystems adapt…

🌎 Big news! Ten Virginia Tech grad students & postdocs have been selected as 2025–26 NE CASC Fellows — representing 40% of this year's cohort.

All are mentored by GCC faculty, driving innovation in climate adaptation research. 👏

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Community members stand in front of fossil.

🦕 Unwrap 200 million years of history!

Join paleontologists Dr. Nesbitt & Dr. Stocker for the Fossil Unwrapping Party 2025 & grand reopening of the Fossil Prep Lab.

📅 Oct 23 | 6:30 PM
📍 Hahn Hall → Derring Hall & Museum of Geosciences
🎟️ Free & family-friendly (ages 7+)

RSVP soon!

buff.ly/rhnjJCm

Promotional graphic for The Nutshell Games hosted by the Center for Communicating Science at Virginia Tech. The event takes place on Thursday, October 23, 2025, at 5:30 PM at the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech. The design includes a portrait of IGC fellow Emily Matthews along with her presentation title and description. The bottom of the image features illustrations of walnuts and scientific sketches.

Promotional graphic for The Nutshell Games hosted by the Center for Communicating Science at Virginia Tech. The event takes place on Thursday, October 23, 2025, at 5:30 PM at the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech. The design includes a portrait of IGC fellow James Moloney along with his presentation title and description. The bottom of the image features illustrations of walnuts and scientific sketches.

Promotional graphic for The Nutshell Games hosted by the Center for Communicating Science at Virginia Tech. The event takes place on Thursday, October 23, 2025, at 5:30 PM at the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech. The design includes a portrait of IGC fellow Anu Rai along with her presentation title and description. The bottom of the image features illustrations of walnuts and scientific sketches.

🎤 Big ideas in 90 seconds!

The 2025 #NutshellGames return TOMORROW, Oct 23 at 5:30 PM. Join grad students as they share their research - no slides, no jargon, just creativity.

Cheer on IGC fellows:
🌱 Emily Matthews
🦟 James Moloney
🐟 Anu Rai

Free & open to all! 👉 buff.ly/7PG5Tg5

Hope you can join us for three full days (June 2-4th, 2026) of great science in a beautiful setting!

Conservationist draws research inspiration from rare Hawaiian bird Ashley Dayer, a Virginia Tech professor and conservationist, began searching for one of the world’s rarest birds in Maui nearly 25 years ago.

🐦 Want to help protect migrating birds?

GCC affiliate Dr. Ashley Dayer shares tips in an ABC 8 News feature:
🌿 Plant native species
💡 Turn off lights at night
🐱 Keep cats indoors

Simple steps, big conservation impact. 🌎

Community members stand in front of fossil.

🦕 Unwrap 200 million years of history!

Join paleontologists Dr. Nesbitt & Dr. Stocker for the Fossil Unwrapping Party 2025 & grand reopening of the Fossil Prep Lab.

📅 Oct 23 | 6:30 PM
📍 Hahn Hall → Derring Hall & Museum of Geosciences
🎟️ Free & family-friendly (ages 7+)

RSVP soon!

buff.ly/rhnjJCm

Graphic reads, 'Chasing Salt: Community Science Study Understanding How Salt Creates Stress in Riparian-Stream Ecosystems'.

💧 Become a community scientist!

Chasing Salt invites teachers, students & community members to help study how road salt & agricultural runoff affect streams.

🗓️ Sign up by Oct 15 to receive your sampling kit & contribute to environmental research!

sentrekin.com/communitysci...

Five faculty members elected to the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine The new members are Cayelan Carey, William "Bill" Hopkins, Liwu Li, Hesham Rakha, and Julie Ross.

🌟 Congrats to GCC affiliates elected to the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering & Medicine!

🌊 Dr. Cayelan Carey – pioneering freshwater ecosystem forecasting
🐸 Dr. Bill Hopkins – advancing biodiversity research amid climate change

Research awards strengthen communities, Virginia, and the nation From predicting pandemics and advancing drone defense to developing new treatments for traumatic brain injuries, new research awards secured by faculty in fiscal year 2025 will drive a wide range of…

Major research awards at Virginia Tech are driving health, security, tech & sustainability forward.

Highlighted GCC affiliates:
✨ Dr. Marr – $18M NSF, COMPASS Center
✨ Drs. Chaves, Sorice, Kindsvater & Ramseyer – $1.7M NSF, fisheries project

'Curious Conversations' podcast: Cayelan Carey talks about ecosystem forecasting Carey's ecosystem forecasting provides near real-time predictions about water quality in lakes and reservoirs. Believed to be the first of its kind, the system is collecting data from 15 lakes and…

🎧 NEW: GCC affiliate Dr. Cayelan Carey talks ecosystem forecasting on VT’s Curious Conversations podcast.

Her team uses sensor data + modeling to predict water quality and support ecosystem management worldwide. 🌍💧

▶️ Listen:

Virginia Tech researcher awarded Great Lakes Fishery Commission grant for sea lamprey project Assistant Professor Beth Nyboer was awarded a grant to study how communication around sea lamprey management and control takes place between state authorities and Indigenous communities to identify…

🌊🐟 Congrats to GCC affiliate Dr. Elizabeth Nyboer!

She’s leading Virginia Tech’s role in the Ginebigomeg Project. This collaborative effort explores Indigenous relationships with sea lamprey and strengthens communication between Indigenous communities and management authorities.

21 faculty members named to endowed chairs, professorships, and fellowships The Board of Visitors appointed 21 faculty members to endowed positions at its Aug. 20 meeting.

🎉 Congrats to GCC affiliates recently honored with endowed appointments at VT!

✨ Dr. Cayelan Carey, Patricia Caldwell Faculty Fellowship
✨ Dr. Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz, Anthony & Catherine Moraco Endowed Faculty Fellowship

Recognizing excellence in research, teaching & service. 👏

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Nominate an Impactful Dataset You are invited to nominate a dataset to be included in a commentary about the impact of Earth, space, and environmental data using the dimensions of people, planet, and prosperity. Selected…

Know a dataset making an impact for people, planet, or prosperity?

🌎 Nominate it for AGU’s upcoming commentary by 10 Oct. You may be featured!

🔗: buff.ly/XLFfYqM
#ImpactfulData #EarthScience

Using the spotted lanternfly to control a different kind of invasive species Harrison Miles, a Ph.D. student in forest reesources and environmental conservation, is studying the effects of using a native fungus on the spotted lanternfly's preferred host, the tree of heaven.…

🌿 How do you fight invasive species?

IGC fellow Harrison Miles is featured in a VT News video on his research tackling the Tree of Heaven and spotted lanternfly.

His innovative work uses a natural fungus to explore vineyard & ecosystem protection. 🍇

Cayelan Carey awarded faculty fellowship Carey’s primary research addresses an increasingly serious environmental and public health challenge – predicting and controlling nuisance and harmful blooms of algae in lakes and reservoirs. This…

💧🏆 Congrats to GCC faculty affiliate Dr. Cayelan Carey for receiving the Patricia Caldwell Faculty Fellowship!

Her research on harmful algal blooms and leadership at the Center for Ecosystem Forecasting is shaping the future of freshwater science.

Congratulations to New IGC GSO Officers for the 2025-2026 Academic Year The Interfaces of Global Change Graduate Student Organization exists to benefit the IGC community as a whole through student contributions to infrastructural, educational, and social investments and…

🌍✨ Meet the new IGC GSO officers for 2025–26!

These student leaders strengthen the Global Change Center community through education, collaboration & outreach.

A rare Hawaiian bird’s history guides conservationist’s research today Ashley Dayer’s work connects people and wildlife across continents.

🌎🐦 GCC faculty affiliate Dr. Ashley Dayer is using social science to protect Atlantic Flyway shorebirds! Her research guides conservation strategies from New York to Florida and informs Virginia’s Wildlife Viewing Plan.

17 faculty members named College of Engineering Dean’s Fellows The 2025 cohort will lead initiatives to grow large-scale research centers in support of the College of Engineering’s strategic plan.

👏 Congrats to GCC affiliate Dr. Landon Marston on being named a 2025–26 Dean’s Fellow in VT’s College of Engineering!

His work on water resources & policy will help drive collaborative, interdisciplinary solutions for the future of engineering. 🌎💧

Researchers deploy water quality forecasting system around the globe Researchers at the Center for Ecosystem Forecasting have developed a system that can predict the quality of drinking water in lakes and reservoirs. By combining advanced sensor technologies, data…

A new water forecasting system from VT’s Center for Ecosystem Forecasting, co-led by GCC affiliates Dr. Cayelan Carey & Dr. Quinn Thomas, is changing the way communities plan for clean water around the world. 💧

Announcing the 2025-26 IGC Curriculum Committee Meet the newest members of the Interfaces of Global Change Curriculum Committee (IG3C)!

🌍 Introducing the 2025–26 Interfaces of Global Change Curriculum Committee (IG3C)!

These GCC faculty & IGC fellows will help shape the program over the next year.

Grateful for those completing terms & excited to welcome new + returning members! 👏