Sustainability-Related Research
Research is at the heart of Virginia Tech's mission and vision. Robust research agendas are critical to the advancement of new knowledge and understanding that can help us tackle the climate crisis. There is currently a significant amount of climate-related research at Virginia Tech with major opportunities for further research and discovery in sustainability across the university.
Climate Action Related Research Examples Underway at Virginia Tech
- Materials and sustainable energy
- Advancing technology and talent in the energy industry
- Tackling challenges facing the U.S. power grid
- GHG emissions from animal systems
- Solar energy (next gen cells)
- Research extension of student independent study projects (e.g., GHG inventory)
- Bus transit GHG emission reduction
- Carbon capture and utilization
- Carbon flux tower by Mountain Lake
- Facilitating local solutions to global climate challenges
- Environmental and climate justice movements
- Climate communication research
- Place-based climate adaptation workshops across the U.S.
- Role of higher education in discouraging/rewarding climate action
- Designing citizen campaigns/education to engage in conservation/sustainability
- How to promote a culture of sustainability among young people
- Pathways/barriers to achieve justice in energy transitions from fossil fuels
- Research on disasters and communities coming together to respond
- Work with community partners (e.g. Blacksburg Vulnerability Assessment)
- Sustainability and the hardwood industry
- Training the next generation of arboriculturists on the Blacksburg campus
- Sustainable biomass research
- Studying forest-water interactions
- Forest farming in the Appalachian woodlands
- Non-industrial private landowners forest carbon contracts
- Measure/document inventory of trees on Blacksburg campus/properties
- Remote sensing in forests to understand role as a solution to climate change
- Urban forestry project on decisions to plant trees in urban areas
- Reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradations
- Economics and environmental impact of land-use change in tropical countries
- Development of circular economy systems
- E-scooters on the Virginia Tech Blacksburg campus
- Making electric vehicles available to mobility challenges multi-family households
- Developing environmentally friendly, firefighting foam
- Conservation in military landscapes
- Sustainable packaging
- Converting food waste into batteries
- Reducing single-use plastics on farms
- Smart farms
- Species migration in face of climate change
- Biophysical research on climate change processes and impacts
- Vulnerability and risk analysis in coastal areas
- Narratives about climate change and energy; cultural attachments to fossil fuels
- Case studies of companies/firms implementing change