Category: IGCoffeeConvo

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November 20, 2020

Written by Gaelle Blanvillain

We resumed our IGC CoffeeConvo session over Zoom this Fall 2020 semester on November 16 with GCC faculty Dr. Susan Whitehead meeting with IGC fellows Isaac VanDiest, Korin Jones and Gaelle Blanvillain.  This was a great opportunity to not only chat about science, but also to interact in an informal way with each other, something that is becoming increasingly rare during this Covid-19 era.

Our conservation ranged broad topics, we all discussed what our PhD research projects entail, from foraging behavior in birds using cool techniques like metabarcoding, to the microbiome of frogs in the light of climate change and an emerging disease, chytridiomycosis, to the emergence of snake fungal disease in Europe, which could have devastating population effects.  We related our research projects to how Covid-19 has impacted our field season, and some of our future research questions.  We realized that we might have to slightly shift paths to make our research feasible while Covid-19 is impacting our lives.

On a more personal note, we also shared some of the struggles we are encountering, and how we are coping in this unprecedented situation.  This might take the form of drinking more coffee (and appreciating good quality coffee), spending time in our gardens, or enjoying cooking!

In the end, we all felt uplifted from our conservations and realized how positive and just nice it is to engage with each other and to remind ourselves that we are in this together.

If you are interested in participating in an upcoming virtual CoffeeConvo, contact Amber Wendler at awendler@vt.edu.  This is a great opportunity to share and engage with others!

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November 19, 2020

Written by Amber Wendler

IGC fellows Amanda Pennino (Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation), Melissa Burt (Biological Sciences), and Amber Wendler (Biological Sciences) recently met virtually with GCC faculty member Dr. Brian Romans (Geosciences). Dr. Romans is a sedimentary geologist and his research has brought him to places like Antarctica and Patagonia. In addition to traveling to cool locations, Dr. Romans’ research has also allowed him to travel back in time millions of years and he described examining soil cores as “reading a book of Earth’s history.” We quickly realized that being from different disciplines meant that we did not all have the same concept of time. To help us gain a better understanding of Earth’s massive timescales, Dr. Romans recommended a book by Marcia Bjornerud called Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World which we are all excited to read (you can find an eBook version via VT libraries, or watch a relevant seminar recording by Dr. Bjornerud online here: https://youtu.be/Pd9seKaplDI)

While we discussed our research interests for a bit, one topic that couldn’t escape any of our minds was the pandemic. Despite being on week 11 of the semester none of us had quite gotten used to working remotely. We all seemed to be craving new strategies for being productive in this environment while maintaining a good work life balance and overall well-being. We agreed that this is not an easy task and were transparent about some of the challenges we have been facing this semester. Some strategies people have tried are virtual co-working groups, and a shared document with peers to hold each other accountable for completing tasks. Thankfully, it seems that everyone has experienced an increase in empathy from their colleagues leading to flexible deadlines, lower expectations, and additional support when needed. This conversation was refreshing because it reaffirmed that we do not have to deal with the hardships of the pandemic alone. If you are reading this, check in on a community member that you haven’t talked to in a while and ask them how they’re doing, as it’s clear that these conversations can go a long way.

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 August 21, 2020

Written by Sarah Kuchinsky

As more and more meetings become virtual, we are all keenly aware of “Zoom fatigue”. And yet, as I was gearing up for my final Zoom meeting of the week, this phenomenon didn’t cross my mind. I was excited to attend my first IGC Coffee Convo, and spend some time conversing and connecting with other members of the IGC community. On August 13^th, fellows Nicole Ward (Biological Sciences), Becca O’Brien (Fish and Wildlife Conservation) and I (Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology) spent an hour chatting with GCC faculty member Dr. Alasdair Cohen (Population Health Sciences).

Topics of discussion ranged from working with PIs in the field and supportive mentors to universal access to safe water. This Coffee Convo even served as networking opportunity for Nicole, as a 5^th year PhD student with thoughts on job prospects, and a potential connection with a colleague of Dr. Cohen.

Much of our conversation centered around Dr. Cohen’s work with The Berkeley/China-CDC Program for Water & Health and future parallel projects in rural Appalachia. He discussed his work on assessing behavior changes in a public health intervention using electric kettles as a tool for safer water and cleaner air. The public health intervention was simple: use a kettle to boil water instead of burning biomass. The idea was that rural households in China were already boiling their water everyday but by using a different means to do so, not only would one achieve the goal of safe drinking water but also reduce household air pollution. The expansion of the Berkeley/China/Virginia Tech Program for Water & Health will allow Dr. Cohen to work with communities in rural Appalachia. He is in the project planning phase and hopes to collaborate with faculty in Appalachian Studies. He stressed the critical role community engagement has on multiple aspects of implementing public health initiatives.

Finishing out the hour was a dialogue on whether some public health initiatives may be at odds with environmental goals, such as bottled water campaigns. While bottled or packaged water is a partial solution for accessing safe water in low-and middle-income countries, its dependence may be seen as a risk rather than putting effort into seeking sustainable solutions (ceramic filters, electric kettles, and community based dissemination of sanitized municipal water). Cohen has written about this topic here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326424524_The_global_risks_of_increasing_reliance_on_bottled_water.

This hour-long discussion showcased the importance of interdisciplinary work, a cornerstone of the training for IGC fellows. Public health interventions involve collaboration between public health experts, infectious disease experts, environmental experts, policy makers and other public officials. I am looking forward to future conversations demonstrating the when/how/where science and policy work together for the betterment of our global community![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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 August 14, 2020

Another successful IGC CoffeeConvo took place via Zoom last week on August 11th with Dr. Francesco Ferretti, associate professor of Fish and Wildlife Conservation in VT’s College of Natural Resources and Environment. IGC Fellows Lauren Maynard, Sam Silknetter, Luciana Pereira, and Zach Gajewski participated in the morning Zoom meeting, which began with introductions and some background information for Francesco’s path prior to coming to Virginia Tech and his research with sharks. Francesco shared details about an upcoming project to survey shark populations in the Mediterranean Sea, the first study to tag sharks in that region, and with a potential feature in the works with Hollywood filmmakers to make a movie about the expedition!

Francesco recently moved to Blacksburg to join Virginia Tech in Fall of 2019, and participants shared the unique challenges and unexpected joys in their experience of moving to a small town. Fellows then swapped stories about the most challenging academic situations faced thus far in graduate school, which of course included the recent move to virtual and online classes.

Francesco’s recommended late summer read:

The Outlaw Ocean, Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier by New York Times Investigative Reporter, Ian Urbina:

“There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world’s oceans: too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these immense regions of treacherous water play host to rampant criminality and exploitation.

Traffickers and smugglers, pirates and mercenaries, wreck thieves and repo men, vigilante conservationists and elusive poachers, seabound abortion providers, clandestine oil-dumpers, shackled slaves and cast-adrift stowaways — drawing on five years of perilous and intrepid reporting, often hundreds of miles from shore, Ian Urbina introduces us to the inhabitants of this hidden world. Through their stories of astonishing courage and brutality, survival and tragedy, he uncovers a globe-spanning network of crime and exploitation that emanates from the fishing, oil and shipping industries, and on which the world’s economies rely.

Both a gripping adventure story and a stunning exposé, this unique work of reportage brings fully into view for the first time the disturbing reality of a floating world that connects us all, a place where anyone can do anything because no one is watching.”

 

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Written by Caleb O’Brien

July 30, 2020

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The COVID-19 pandemic has given Jennifer Russell some small reasons for hope.

Russell, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials and Global Change Center affiliated faculty-member, studies the circular economy, a radical reimagining of our current prevailing economic model.

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In today’s linear economy, resources are grown or mined, converted to goods, and then disposed of in waste or (sometimes) recycled. In contrast, a circular economy “is restorative and regenerative by design and aims to keep products, components, and materials at their highest utility and value at all times,” according to a Google and Ellen MacArthur Foundation report.

“What I take hope from is that, as long as I’ve been working in this space… there has been a resistance to change on the grounds that, ‘if it’s not broken, you don’t need to fix it,’” Russell says. But during COVID, “we didn’t have a choice; we were forced to do things differently… we proved that we are capable of change, and change might not be all bad. Should we choose to learn from it, we’ve proven that change can be a good thing.”

Russell met with four IGC graduate fellows on July 29 in the latest socially-distant incarnation of the IGC Coffee Convo—an informal opportunity for graduate students and faculty to interact, share, and build community.

But because the gathering took place in a cyber Zoom-scape in lieu of a coffee shop, the only reference to coffee came when Russell held aloft two reusable coffee cups to illustrate the danger of rebound effects in sustainability efforts: As reusable items become fashionable (and brand-able), people risk accumulating so many that they might offset the sustainability gains from avoiding the single-use equivalent.

Rebound effects are among the myriad ramifying complexities inherent to efforts to establish a circular economy in the United States. “The economy is embedded within society,” Russell said, “so overhauling the economy can have huge impacts on society.”

These linkages across systems is a key focus of the GCC. And after nearly two decades engaging with the circular economy as a consultant and a researcher, Russell has a deep “appreciation for the interdisciplinary approach for finding a solution.” That emphasis on interdisciplinarity and cross-system connections was manifest in the research interests of the graduate student participants in this IGC Coffee Convo—Joshua Rady, Rebecca O’Brien, Caleb O’Brien, and Devin Hoffman—who peppered Russell with questions about her work, discussed the relationships between their own research and the circular economy, and brainstormed ideas for youth outreach opportunities.

Some of the biggest challenges for implementing circular-economy approaches in the US identified by Russell are overcoming the incumbent economic model’s “entrenched tools and ways of thought,” grappling with human psychology, and challenges of accurately measuring important circular-economy metrics. But there is some evidence that change might be on the horizon. For example, recent legislation advanced by two congressional democrats would require manufacturers to fund recycling efforts instead of taxpayer-funded (and cash-strapped) municipalities.

And although health is the highest priority during a pandemic and single-use items are appropriate during an emergency, Russell highlighted instances of circular-economy approaches to medicine that could serve as models for a retooled healthcare system in the United States. For example, in 2018 an Australian hospital successfully diverted 600,000 kg of waste from landfill. And in Europe, a novel business model is supplying reusable surgical implements such as scalpels to hospitals, which might not have the space or infrastructure to sanitize, test, and repackage implements in-house.

On more a personal level, Russell’s work has highlighted some of the ways individual consumers can support a circular economy, such as being thoughtful about the packaging of their purchases and opting for items that can be repaired. And her research has led her to practice what she preaches: “I’m repairing my own things,” Russell says. “I’m learning how to sew; I repaired a toilet.”

But there are, of course, downsides to all that knowledge, Russell says: “It takes me a lot longer to go grocery shopping than it should.”

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Written by Joshua Mouser

The first IGC Coffee Convo since closure of the university was conducted on July 23rd via Zoom! These conversations allow students to create connections with faculty members they might not normally interact with. GCC faculty Dr. Josef Uyeda met with IGC Fellows Joshua Mouser, Chloe Moore, Melissa Burt, and Nicole Ward.

As fitting with the virtual nature of the meeting, the group started by discussing how we have adjusted to the changes and challenges brought on by the pandemic. We discussed virtual conferences, staying connected with friends and lab mates, and how we have adjusted our research. Overall, it seems that everyone was able to adjust effectively and the delays in fieldwork have even given some of us a chance to catch up on other pieces of our projects.

The conversation then pivoted to Dr. Uyeda’s research, which focuses on connecting micro and macro evolutionary processes. One of his current projects attempts to understand why evolution is such a slow process when it could be much faster. The thought of evolution being a “fast” process is contrary to what most of us think. As an example, Dr. Uyeda explained that in the last 300–500 years dogs have been bred to display a range of skull shapes that is greater than the range found in the rest of the carnivores. The quickness that dogs have evolved through breeding leads to the question, why do animals tend to go extinct rather than adapt quickly if evolution can occur quickly?

We also discussed diversity and inclusion efforts by the University, its departments, and the role GCC can play in increasing diversity. A common sentiment we shared was that as students we often do not have the power to make the changes that we want to see. Dr. Uyeda encouraged us to not give up and seek out those that have the power to make changes.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Written by Alaina Weinheimer

The second IGCoffeeConvo of the spring 2020 semester was held on the first Friday of March. These gatherings are an opportunity for IGC students to get to know a GCC faculty member in a casual setting. This time, GCC faculty member Michelle Stocker (Geosciences) met with IGC students Melissa Burt (Biological Sciences), Emma Bueren (Biological Sciences), and Alaina Weinheimer (Biological Sciences).

While our conversation effortlessly jumped disciplines, from data availability to honey beekeeping, we students learned about the challenges and triumphs of working in a field whose essence jumps disciplines: paleosciences – an intersection of geosciences and biology. Michelle described to us the unique circumstances of administratively belonging to one department (Geosciences) but carrying out work that is very relevant to another department (like Biological Sciences), regarding topics like evolution and anatomy. Her students tend to take classes in both departments, bringing a unique perspective to both that enhances progress in both fields. While it’s exciting to both advance and make connections across multiple disciplines at once, this work has the potential to sometimes feel isolating unless community is well established. As more interdisciplinary programs, such as the IGC, emerge, a stronger sense of community is emerging to interdisciplinary work.

We also discussed different aspects of professional development when working in interdisciplinary fields, like paleosciences. Having background in both geosciences and biology open doors to careers in both fields. Some paleoscientists even attend medical school. However, Michelle mentioned the challenge of paleoscientists to convey to employers their extensive knowledge in animal anatomy and physiology. The degree on a paleoscientist’s CV often reads from a Geoscience department or institution, which does not explicitly convey this biological expertise. As a result, paleoscientists pursuing careers in primarily biological fields often emphasize their aptitude in biology in their cover letters. As science becomes more interdisciplinary, perhaps the nature of CVs and cover letter will evolve that will convey the unique expertise of the individual.

As a whole, this IGCoffeeConvo brought to light benefits and challenges of pursuing interdisciplinary research and careers. We students gained a deeper appreciation for fields that bridge departments, such as paleosciences.

If you are a GCC Faculty member and interested in participating in an upcoming IGCoffeeConvo, please contact Amber Wendler at awendler@vt.edu. Fellows should keep an eye on their email inboxes for opportunities to join in on future conversations![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row]