Solving Problems Through Research
What We Offer: Environment
Virginia Tech is one of the nation's foremost institutions in environmental science and resource management. Programs in electrical engineering power systems, mechanical engineering and energy management, mining and minerals engineering, and sustainable architecture link eneregy technologies with environmental concerns. Research in water resources, ecology, land restoration; forestry, fisheries, and wildlife conservation; and geological sciences provides the basis for successful use of resources while minimizing damage to the environment.
The Center for Energy and the Global Environment, with links to industry groups and universities in more than 30 nations, is one of the most internationally diverse research organizations of its kind in the world. The center also runs one of the largest university-based solar cell systems test facilities in the United States.
Other centers are:
Center for Advanced Separation Technologies
Center for Energy Systems Research
Center for Environmental Applications of Remote Sensing
Center for Geospatial Information Technology
Center for Geotechnical Practice and Research
Conservation Management Institute
Loblolly Pine Growth and Yield Cooperative
Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research
Virginia Tech Horseshoe Crab Research Center
Virginia Water Resources Research Center
Also see the resources and expertise listed at the Deans' Task Force on the Environment site
Cleaning up the bay
Problem: Agricultural runoff is a major water quality problem for the Chesapeake Bay and other bodies of water.
Solution: Use sedimentation basins and other practices to remove copper from runoff water.
Andrea Dietrich and Daniel Gallagher of civil and environmental engineering, Theo Dillaha of biological systems engineering, and colleagues from the Colleges of Sciences and Agriculture and Life Sciences, found that copper from pesticides was adversely impacting aquatic organisms. They discovered that judicious use of pesticidies plus detaining runoff in sedimentation basins removed about 90 percent of the copper.
As a result, "Best Management Practices Handbook for Plastic Mulch Production" will help farmers produce fruits and vegetables with plastic mulch in a profitable and environmentally sound manner.