Month: May 2020

Categories
Blog Climate Change

In a virtual environment, collaboration and engagement remain at the heart of Climate Action Commitment revision process

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

From VT News  |  May 21, 2020

The ongoing Climate Action Commitment revision process is not only generating recommendations that will help guide Virginia Tech’s sustainable future, it is also fostering a dynamic ecosystem of university and community members collaborating to collectively tackle this important challenge.

This network of nearly 125 students, faculty, and staff from across operations, academics, and research, and community representatives continues to be highly engaged in moving the revision process forward – in a fully virtual environment.

Approved initially in 2009 by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, the Virginia Tech Climate Action Commitment serves as the university’s guiding framework around sustainability and energy efficiency in campus operations, facilities, curriculum, and research. In late 2019, President Tim Sands called for its renewal and revision to ensure the most stringent climate and sustainability standards are implemented as Virginia Tech continues to grow and seeks to be a leader in environmental stewardship.

Despite the shift to a remote campus setting due to COVID-19, the working group leading the update process is on track to deliver final revision recommendations to Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer Dwayne Pinkney within the next month.

Requiring exceptional collaboration, community input, and knowledge transfer under a tight timeframe, when it comes to the revision process and delivering recommendations, what has been the recipe for success?

“The same ingredients that underscore effective in-person group interactions are essential in virtual environments,” said Todd Schenk, assistant professor of urban affairs and planning within the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and vice chair of the Climate Action Commitment revision working group.

“One key ingredient is the need for a shared commitment among participants. In the example of the Climate Action Commitment revisions, all participants are passionate about a more sustainable Virginia Tech. That does not, however, mean we agree on everything. A second key ingredient is that we are dedicated to constructive deliberations and are respectful of each other’s unique vantage points and expertise. We all also agree that accountability is essential to stay on track.”

Strong coordination has also been critical in the process, especially in delivering opportunities for the greater university, local community, and alumni to get involved and share their voices in the revision efforts.

With 12 subcommittees meeting weekly to formulate recommendations, organization, and communication among the working group and subcommittees has been vital.

Coordination has been central to the efforts of the Community Engagement Subcommittee in particular. When plans for a large scale in-person campus convening had to be adapted in light of the governor’s stay at home order, subcommittee members sprang into action to organize a series of 12 Zoom convenings.

The sessions, attended by nearly 200 stakeholders from the university, alumni, and regional communities, and beyond, offered attendees the opportunity to get up-to-date on revision efforts and the chance to share their thoughts on a variety of sustainability topics through well-coordinated Zoom breakout rooms.

“Being an active member of my community is part of life’s purpose. I am proud to call Blacksburg home and of the many years I spent at Virginia Tech. The unique opportunity to participate in the Climate Action Commitment revision efforts and the Zoom convenings to help implement sustainable change is rewarding. As a community member and alumna, it is also gratifying to be able to share my knowledge and experiences from farming, teaching, and being a mother and veterinarian,” shared Sarah Haring, who earned both a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 2016 and a Master of Public Health in 2020 from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.

An unwavering commitment to the cause, collaboration, and coordination will be essential continuing to move Virginia Tech’s environmental stewardship efforts forward once the renewed Climate Action Commitment is live. One of the last tasks of the current Community Engagement Subcommittee is to recommend how to keep these important conversations going.

“It has been incredible to engage with so many stakeholders from a range of disciplines and work toward a common goal. Even during the pandemic, our Community Engagement Subcommittee has stayed in almost daily communication,” said Heidi Hahn, a rising junior majoring in environmental policy and planning within the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and minoring in green engineering within the College of Engineering.

Click here to learn more about the Climate Action Commitment revision process. The latest updates will also be shared via VT News.


Related links:

 

CONTACTS:

Alexa Briehl
540-231-7899

Mark Owczarski
540-231-5396

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Categories
Air Blog Disease Faculty Spotlight

Researcher Linsey Marr evaluates efficacy of sterilized N95 respirators, alternative mask materials in filtering particles

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

From VT News  |  May 19, 2020

Since March, Virginia Tech civil and environmental engineering professor Linsey Marr, an expert in the airborne transmission of infectious disease, has been testing the efficacy of sterilized N95 respirators and alternative mask materials in filtering out particles.

The rapid science experiments conducted by Marr’s team aim to help quantify how well these forms of personal protective equipment shield their wearers against COVID-19, especially in the face of shortages.

Dealing with sluggish PPE supply chains, the medical community and the wider public have turned to improvisation. Some hospitals have worked to extend the use of their stores of N95 respirators by sterilizing them. Members of the public, advised by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to wear masks in places like grocery stores and pharmacies, are also exploring creative problem-solving by sourcing off-the-shelf materials for homemade masks. As these groups adapt, Marr’s team is working to supply them with insights grounded in science.

When testing sterilized N95 respirators, Marr and graduate students Jin Pan and Charbel Harb, members of Applied Interdisciplinary Research in Air (AIR2) Laboratory and fellow civil and environmental engineering professor Hosein Foroutan’s Applied Interdisciplinary Research on Flow Systems (AIRFlowS) Laboratory, found that the respirators retained their ability to filter particles after up to 10 cycles of sterilization by hydrogen peroxide vapor and by ethylene oxide.

“Since I understand how the coronavirus moves around in air, I knew how important it was for health care workers to have proper respiratory protection,” said Marr, the Charles P. Lunsford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “I knew my lab could help by testing N95s after sterilization to ensure that they could be reused safely. I quickly wrote up a procedure, and my students reconfigured our equipment to start running experiments.”

Marr’s research looks more broadly at the sources, transformations, and fate of air pollutants. Over the years, she’s focused on engineered nano-materials and viral aerosols — mainly those of the flu for the latter — and how they can be physically and chemically transformed in the environment. As she’s pivoted in recent months to apply her insights to the novel coronavirus, Marr, a GCC affiliate, has weighed in on subjects that have captured national media attention, such as the possibility of transmission by inhalation, the 6-foot distance recommendation for running outside, and how virus particles may or may not land on a person’s clothes or other surfaces.

In their look at homemade mask materials, Marr’s team has tested items that have emerged in the public eye in recent months. So far, they’ve tested materials that include Shop-Vac bags, HVAC filters, T-shirts, microfiber cloth, felt, auto shop rags and towels, and coffee filters.

A few top performers and busts emerged from their tests. Microfiber cloth, a material used to clean eyeglasses, filtered out at least 80 percent of particles under optimal conditions, while a heavyweight cotton t-shirt, a shop towel, and a shop rag filtered out only about 10 percent of the hardest particles to remove, and about 50 percent of the larger ones. HVAC filters removed a low of 20 percent of particles; Shop-Vac bags removed at least 60 percent.

The experiments are ongoing, but Marr has been releasing the results in real time on Twitter. She also shared the procedure behind the tests on Twitter, and other aerosol science labs around the country have since adopted these methods to help test materials in their regions.

Linsey Marr
Photo by Ryan Young for Virginia Tech

Reuse as a last resort: Testing sterilized N95 respirators 

The team’s experiments on sterilized N95 respirators were fueled largely by requests from local medical professionals, like Anthony Baffoe-Bonnie, Carilion Clinic’s medical director of infection control and an epidemiologist for the hospital, and infection preventionist Maimuna Jatta.

Baffoe-Bonnie’s team wanted to know if the hospital’s N95 respirators retained their filtration efficacy after up to 10 cycles of sterilization using hydrogen peroxide vapor, a common technique among hospitals. There was added uncertainty in that the Carilion team’s machines use a stronger concentration of hydrogen peroxide than the methodology referenced in the publications they read for guidance.

Marr’s tests showed that the N95 respirators retained their efficacy post-sterilization with the technique, helping the team solidify their procedure. “With that, we knew we could use what we had,” said Baffoe-Bonnie. He said he was grateful to have Marr and her testing resources close by. “I think she’s a godsend in that regard,” Baffoe-Bonnie said. “We had a student drive the stuff over to her, and we had our results back — it couldn’t have been faster.”

Marr’s lab is set up to evaluate filtration efficacy of porous media for particles ranging in size from 0.04 to 1.0 microns. Within that capacity, the team can assess how well a form of PPE meets the standard for N95 respirators, which are required to block at least 95 percent of particles 0.3 microns in diameter.

To test materials, the team sprays sodium chloride particles from a liquid salt solution into a large bag and measures the number and sizes of the particles in the bag. They then use a vacuum pump to pull air containing the particles through the respirator, mask, or material they’re testing, and measure the number and sizes of particles that made it through to the other side.

“The mask or filter removes particles, and we measure hopefully much less than what’s in the big bag,” explained Marr.

In a sea of homemade mask materials, learning which options sink or float

Some of the alternative mask materials arrived in Marr’s lab for testing via Matt Hull, a research scientist at the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Scienceand Marr’s colleague on the institute’s NanoEarth team. Hull, who earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from Virginia Tech, has worked extensively with Marr and other researchers to understand how nanoscale materials move through the environment and what happens when we’re exposed to them.

Hull recognized that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there would be a strain on supply chains for protective materials with specialized properties, including materials that the medical community might eye for last-resort use in PPE. He searched for products that might reproduce some of the functionality of certified PPE materials, but could be bought off the shelf.

Hull dropped off potential candidates at the Kelly Hall headquarters of the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, where a conference room that, under normal circumstances, would be booked for committee meetings and thesis defenses was transformed into a staging area for piles of material destined for testing in Marr’s lab down the hall. Hull and the other researchers would exchange text messages when materials were ready for pickup, cobbling together a socially distanced courier service.

“As a scientist, you work your whole life and you go home a lot of nights, and you think, ‘What did I do today?’” said Hull. “‘I maybe edited a paper, sent a few emails.’ You rarely get the chance to contribute so directly to solving a problem.”

Marr’s team has also begun testing several leading, open-source 3D-printed mask designs submitted by Chris Williams, a mechanical engineering professor who has helped coordinate a campus-wide effort to test, design, and produce PPE, ventilator components, and other COVID-19 medical supplies. His lab will base their next steps in PPE production on Marr’s tests.

Her team will continue to run experiments as new ideas for mask materials surface. “We’ll keep testing materials as long as what we’re doing hasn’t been done by other people,” Marr said.

In immediate response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Virginia Tech faculty, staff, and students have initiated numerous research projects with local and global salience. Learn more from the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation.

– Written by Suzanne Irby and Eleanor Nelsen

 

CONTACT:
Suzanne Irby

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Categories
Blog IGC Interfaces of Global Change IGEP Science Communication

What is scientific consensus, and how do we achieve it?

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

By Melissa Burt  |  May 15, 2020

The first-year IGC seminar students discussed the challenges of reaching “scientific consensus” with Dr. Julia Gohlke(Associate Professor in Population Health Sciences), who shared her experiences working on panels to determine scientific consensus on health impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Scientific consensus” is the view held by most scientists specialized in that field. But how is it generated? To see how scientific consensus is reached, we focused on the processes used by the IPCC and the NAS. Both groups start their process by determining the scope of the problem that requires scientific consensus. For IPCC, this is determined by the governments leading the United Nations, while for the NAS this is determined by boards within the NAS and those sponsoring specific studies. The next step for both groups is to establish a group of scientists that specialize within that scope that will collect and assess the body of scientific evidence on the topic. During this process, those scientists meet and determine where the scientific evidence leads to agreement. For example, the IPCC panels examine the current science of climate change and determine to what extent the scientific evidence points towards human activity as a cause. Once the lead scientists determine their consensus on a given topic and write a report summarizing the evidence, the report then is peer-reviewed by other scientists before being finalized and communicated to the sponsors of the study.

We finished up our discussion on scientific consensus by focusing on the potential pros and cons of this process. Some pros of consensus building include that the process incorporates the expertise of scientists, is typically transparent process (i.e. the process of the IPCC and NAS are publicly available), and synthesizes a potentially broad array of pieces of evidence. Because the scientists are tasked with determining areas of agreement, the output of the process can be a clear picture of where the experts agree potentially providing a clear path for how to incorporate scientific evidence into the decision process of policy makers. On the other hand, this can go in the opposite direction when scientists cannot find consensus potentially leading to scientific evidence being left out of decision making or the erosion of public confidence in scientists. Another potential con of consensus building is that it requires a majority of scientists on a topic to agree which means some viewpoints may be left out. Finally, although scientists might aspire to objectivity in this process of consensus building, biases can still enter into the process either with unconscious or unacknowledged biases on the part of the scientists or when it comes to applying the synthesis of scientific evidence to policy decisions. Overall, while we could point out these potential pitfalls of consensus building, we found it difficult to come up with alternative processes to incorporating science into policy decisions.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Melissa Burt is a PhD student in Dr. Susan Whitehead’s Lab in Biological Sciences. She is studying how seed dispersal mutualisms respond to habitat fragmentation and climate change.

Header photo credit: IPCC[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Categories
Blog IGC Interfaces of Global Change IGEP Science Communication

Joint fact-finding and collaborative adaptive management: Is there room at the table for science?

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

By Caleb O’Brien  |  May 14, 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted, the role of science in policymaking can be complex and fraught. Recently, Global Change Center affiliate Todd Schenk, Assistant Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech, joined a group of graduate students in the Interfaces of Global Change Seminar to discuss the complicated interplay between science and public deliberations in another realm: Joint fact-finding and collaborative adaptive management.

From the vantage of the ivory tower, scientists can fall prey to an unrealistic view of the relationship between science and policy, mistakenly believing that there is a straight line from good research to good policy, and that more good science should lead to more good policy. Alas, the world’s a messy place, and that messiness can have real consequences for human and environmental health and wellbeing. Consider, for example, the resurgence of preventable diseases caused by fear about vaccines, or the gridlock around anthropogenic climate change.

The messy interface between science and policy is due, in part, to the nature of science: It is incremental, uncertain, contested, distant, hard to translate, and often ensnared in the quagmire of wicked problems. What’s worse, parties on every side of a dispute can often marshal scientific findings that seem to support their position, making it difficult to establish a common baseline of facts, let alone achieve a solution. Shenk, an expert in environmental policy and planning with globe-spanning experience, proffered joint fact-finding as one path through the thicket of adversarial science and conflicting priorities.

Joint fact-finding is a process by which stakeholders, experts, and decision-makers collaboratively strive to address factual disputes around science-linked policy issues such as environmental protection, energy, and public health.

Schenk guided the IGC students and some visiting faculty members through a hypothetical joint fact-finding exercise based on conflicts around the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Following a standard protocol for joint-fact finding, the participants explored relevant stakeholder groups, untangled their positions and interests, and delved into the process of collectively mustering a common pool of knowledge upon which the participants could draw when (hopefully) fashioning a solution to their conflict.

The exercise highlighted the challenges and complexities of incorporating science into fraught, multi-stakeholder processes. Although the simulation Schenk conducted was a simplified serious game, it offered the IGC cohort fodder for reflection on the roles they might in their future careers as scientists. Joint fact-finding is one tool that could help researchers blaze a path through the thicket of adversarial science.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Caleb O’Brien is a PhD student working with Professor Marc Stern on a research project studying place-based climate change adaptation in the United States.

Header photo credit: Beckley Register Herald[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Categories
Accolades Announcements IGC Interfaces of Global Change IGEP

Cristina Marcillo wins the 2020 Randolph L. Grayson Outstanding CALS Diversity Scholar Award

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

May 12, 2020

Congratulations to recent IGC alumna Dr. Cristina Marcillo, who just received a 2020 Randolph L. Grayson Outstanding VT-CALS Diversity Scholar Award! Throughout her four-year graduate career at Virginia Tech, Cristina has displayed her devotion to issues of justice and inclusion in her research, service, and professional activities. In addition to her dissertation work examining potential disparities in water quality and access here in Virginia and abroad in Guatemala, Cristina worked for the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity to mentor students in the college’s National Society of Black Engineers chapter and to assist in community college students’ transition to the university through the Pre-College Initiative. She also provided tutoring and STEM demos at rural K-12 schools through the Virginia Tech PEERS volunteer program (Partnering with Engineers and Educators in Rural Schools) and served as graduate student representative on the BSE department’s diversity committee for three years.

Congrats Dr. Marcillo on this prestigious, well-deserved award for your accomplishments!

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”49414″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Categories
Accolades Announcements IGC Interfaces of Global Change IGEP

Congratulations to Recipients of the 2020-21 IGC Fellowship!

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

May 8, 2020

The Interfaces of Global Change IGEP awards four 12-month Ph.D. fellowships every academic year, each covering tuition and stipend. These graduate research assistantships are awarded based on the student’s professional credentials, the student’s level of engagement in the IGC IGEP, pertinence of the student’s research to global change, the interdisciplinary nature of the work, and the student’s plan for using the one-year fellowship.

Congratulations to the following recipients of this year’s IGC Fellowships![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Stephen DeVilbiss

School of Plant & Environmental Sciences

[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”42500″ img_size=”250×250″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_circle”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]”My dissertation research addresses the impacts of freshwater salinization on bacterial water quality and ecology. Increased salt runoff in freshwater systems is caused by numerous global change issues including agriculture, resource extraction, urbanization, and climate change. While salinization impairs freshwater ecosystems, the activities causing it are vital to human wellbeing; thus, it is not feasible to eliminate the production and use of salts in the environment. Given the wicked nature of this issue, it is critical to identify target salinity ranges that preserve ecosystem services and inform smarter salt management strategies that consider water quality, ecosystem services, and societal needs.”

The IGC fellowship will enable Steve to dedicate 100% of his time to research in his final year, as well as allow him the time to grow existing collaborations with GCC faculty, conduct additional research to enhance his doctoral thesis, and increase the impact of his work.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]”I am studying the foraging behavior of brown-headed nuthatches, and the situational drivers that cause them to join large and diverse multi-species flocks during nonbreeding season. I am observing these multi-species flocks on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBL), which is required via the Department of Defense to conserve biodiversity on this federal property. To be effective in an applied manner, my study requires field ecologists to collect data, policy makers to determine management efforts, and habitat managers to implement policy. By working with MCBL wildlife management to incorporate non breeding season factors into the base’s avian management plans, I hope to create an interdisciplinary framework for analyzing and managing bird habitat that can be utilized by other federal properties across the pine savanna regions of the southeast.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Noah McNeill

Biological Sciences

[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”33937″ img_size=”250×250″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_circle”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The IGC Fellowship funding will allow Noah to vastly expand his time in the field in the upcoming year. He’s also working with Pulaski Middle School teachers to develop an in-class outreach program to demonstrate primary aspects of bird biology, and this secured funding will permit him additional time to develop and implement this program in educational settings.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Isaac VanDiest

Biological Sciences

[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”44719″ img_size=”250×250″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_circle”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]”I’m interested in understanding how community dynamics impact an individual’s physiology and fitness. My research specifically focuses on how urbanization alters arthropod communities and may therefore compromise songbird physiology and fitness. Urbanization is expanding world-wide and understanding its consequences for wildlife and ecosystem function requires thinking and working across levels of biological organization. Through my research I am working with people in the entomology, wildlife, animal sciences, and biological sciences departments to develop these perspectives.

Conservation plans tend to look purely at vital rates when making decisions, but are starting to come around on using other forms of information, such as genetics and stress physiology, to protect species before their numbers crash. My dissertation work focusing on nutrition as a vital physiological indicator of wellbeing nested among larger scale ecological data is a great opportunity to proactively implement legislation to prevent population drops that cannot be predicted with only vital rates.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The IGC Fellowship opportunity will allow Isaac to double down on the extensive laboratory work needed over the coming year, as well as free up time for additional field projects and a continued dedication to mentoring undergraduate science students.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]”My research bridges gaps between the extant and the extinct by using microevolutionary methods applied to macroevolutionary timescales, particularly during periods of extensive global change. In a nutshell, I study both living and long dead animals by looking at the evolution of tooth shape across evolutionary time. To pursue this research, I aim to reconstruct the evolutionary history of diet of 41 extant and extinct species of lemurs. Lemurs are an ideal system for investigating the evolution of diet and its relationship with extinction, as there are many recently extinct species with a robust fossil record, as well as many more currently declining species. I am collaborating with an interdisciplinary research group of anthropologists, mathematicians, and statisticians at Duke University, working together to develop new methodologies for characterizing and quantifying tooth shape. Although lemurs are in decline, they are charismatic species and are relatively well-known to the general public. I aim to expand public interest in both lemurs and evolution by building outreach tools to teach the public how morphology influences ecology and how these together influence extinction.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Brenen Wynd

Geosciences

[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”49397″ img_size=”250×250″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_circle”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Brenen will utilize the IGC fellowship to dedicate time directly to his research, including plans to spend a full month at Duke University working with collaborators. He’s also aiming to develop an outreach project based on his research and using 3D printing or online modules that will create a toolkit to be shared on morphosource.com to be used by educators, researchers and the public.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Categories
Biodiversity Conservation Educational Outreach Ideas Science Communication

Science on Tap NRV moves online during the coronavirus pandemic

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]From VT News | May 1, 2020

As the novel coronavirus continues to proliferate across the world, we are all being asked to do our part in preventing the spread — whether that be wearing a mask in public, maintaining a 6-foot distance from others, or staying at home.

Many businesses have resorted to postponing or cancelling their regularly scheduled events. But one organization, called Science on Tap-New River Valley (NRV), refuses to let the current situation stop them from celebrating scientific thought in the Blacksburg community.

“Science on Tap NRV encourages fun and engaging science-related conversations, and right now our goal is to go full steam ahead as we’ve been doing, with local needs and interests serving a timely forefront,” said Cassandra Hockman, one of the organizers for Science on Tap and a Ph.D. student in rhetoric and writing in the Virginia Tech Department of English. “I think having and engaging in some form of community is really important right now.”

Science on Tap NRV is a monthly event that invites science-inspired speakers, performers, and educators from across the New River Valley to talk about scientific research in a relaxed setting. The goal is to create mutual support between the local and scientific communities through open conversation and a glass of beer.

Around this time of year, the gathering occurs at the lively Rising Silo Brewery, a semi-outdoor farm brewery. But as the events of the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold, the organizers had to decide whether to cancel the event or push forward by virtual means. They chose the latter.

Hockman figured that now is a better time than any to hold a Science on Tap about viruses and viral transmission. In preparation for the event, Hockman collected questions about the coronavirus from the entire Science on Tap community. She then posed those questions to virus spread and airborne disease transmission experts Linsey Marr, the Charles P. Lunsford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering, and Kaisen Lin, a newly minted Ph.D. and former graduate student in Marr’s lab.

“Our events are meant to provide a community space for welcoming, genuine curiosity, as well as encourage conversation between researchers and community members,” said Hockman. “I had seen some coverage about air transmission, but not much, and I also saw Linsey Marr entering these public conversations online. Since I had met with her and covered her work a few years ago, I knew her expertise and public contributions were highly relevant and timely.”

On March 23, Hockman hosted the first virtual Science on Tap via Zoom.

During the interview, Marr tackled questions related to virus survival in humid conditions, viral transmission in small and open spaces, and what it truly means when a virus is “airborne.” And although uncertainties still remain about the novel coronavirus, Marr was very grateful for the opportunity to help clear the air. “We just want to spread good science and help people understand what’s going on,” said Marr.

 

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=e7_xxdtGdvw&feature=emb_logo”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Science on Tap NRV was the brainchild of Katie Burke, a digital features editor for the American Scientist. When she first moved to the Blacksburg area in 2015, Burke was on a mission to find local science communicators. Soon enough, she met Patricia Raun and Carrie Kroehler of the Virginia Tech Center for Communicating Science in the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment.

“I noted to Patty and Carrie that there was no science outreach event in Blacksburg at the time, and that events like that are where locals, STEM researchers, and science communicators often can meet and discuss ideas,” said Burke. “Patty and Carrie encouraged me to start one and gave me a lot of the advice, connections, and moral support I needed as impetus to make it happen.”

The first Science on Tap event launched in the spring of 2017 with great success — and an even greater turnout.

“We have had incredible attendance from the get-go, with our first event bringing in well over 100 people and filling up Rising Silo, which indicates to me that Blacksburg really needed an event like this,” said Burke.

Every night kicks off with a trivia game, a comedic routine, or a demonstration. Then, an invited guest scientist speaks about their research, which is followed by a Q&A session.

Over the course of its three years, Science on Tap has featured research about lighthearted topics, such as animal flatulence and scientific humor, as well as more pressing issues like water quality and climate change.

“We’ve had so much fun, and you know, while we were at it, we brainstormed some ways to save the world and make it a better place,” said Burke.

Along with donations from attendees, Science on Tap receives support from the Virginia Tech Center for Communicating Science and the Virginia Tech chapter of Sigma Xi, a nonprofit honor society for scientists and engineers. Both organizations are large proponents of science outreach, and they provide a generous amount of support by promoting events, bringing in speakers, and supplying volunteers.

“Our guest speakers are generally volunteers, and the show wouldn’t exist without researchers and artists willing to come in front of a bunch of people in a bar,” said Burke. “We are, by nature, a pretty low-budget operation, and much of what we do is volunteer-driven. That allows us to offer the event for free and open to everyone.”

For now, Science on Tap will continue to follow a virtual layout to not only ensure the safety of the public, but to keep that insatiable love of learning and science enthusiasm rolling until it can be safely moved back into locations in the community.

“Our next virtual events will incorporate more opportunities for personal interaction and audience participation,” said Raun, who both directs the Center for Communicating Science and serves as a professor of performance and voice in the Virginia Tech School of Performing Arts. “We’re looking forward to helping people connect during this time of social isolation.”

Science on Tap’s next virtual event will take place on May 7. For more details, visit the organization’s Facebook page.

If you have an idea for a Science on Tap event, or if you want to join the mailing list, contact scienceontapnrv@gmail.com.

Written by Kendall Daniels

 

CONTACT:
Kristin Rose
(540) 231-6614

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row]