Our group edited video footage of the interviews our class conducted of graduate student researchers at Virginia Tech. The goal was to create 3-4 minute videos that helped tell the story of each student’s scientific research. We invite you to browse through the videos or check out the entire playlist.
We thank Chris Valluzzo, Multimedia Producer/Director in the Whittemore TV Studio, for filming these interviews and providing us with the footage.
Erin Poor's research examines the effects of declining land mass on large cats. Poor hopes to use this data to influence local governments with hopes to increase the land available to these cats. Read the full story here.
Interviewer: Savannah Leeah
Video: Geoff Israel
Carrie Jensen's research focuses on the mapping of streams and getting temporary headwaters to be more recognized in the scientific community. Read the full story here.
Interviewer: Bailey Watkins
Video: Geoff Israel
Yucheng Fu's research is multidisciplinary as he works closely with the Nuclear Engineering Department. Fu is creating an algorithm to detect the flow of bubbles in various situations. This algorithm has the ability to impact nuclear energy, medicine, and even agriculture. Read the full story here.
Interviewer: Geoff Israel
Video: Geoff Israel
Rachel Brooks's research is focused on evaluating biological control options for the invasive tree-of-heaven and is studying how two naturally-occurring fungi can be used to manage this tree throughout North America. She hopes to begin a career in the future in which she can continue to study emerging forest health problems. Read the full story here.
Interviewer: Connor Buza
Video: Kendall Daniels
Sergio Ballivian's research examines the possibility of using machine learning to track individuals in indoor environments with depth sensors. Read the full story here.
Interviewer: Lauren Armstrong
Video: Shea Hacker
Dr. Stevenson's research focuses on understanding natural and synthetic polymer properties to construct materials for applications in complex environments, such as the human body. He is excited to utilize the academic and leadership skills cultivated at Virginia Tech to further “enrich the intellectual environment” in the world. Read the full story here.
Interviewer: Kendall Daniels
Video: Kendall Daniels
MJ Farruggia studies the interactions between desert amphibians and human-made water sources in Southeast Arizona, analyzing how different levels of water availability affects the survival and distribution of amphibians. Read the full story here.
Interviewer: Hayley Oliver
Video: Shea Hacker
Farnaz Khaghani's research focus is on the integration of social media and participatory sensing networks to evaluate the performance of the urban infrastructure. She is mainly interested in leveraging the emerging big data sources towards improving the performance of the infrastructure and moving towards a sustainable and resilient community. Read the full story here.
Interviewer: Addie Martin
Video: Addie Martin
Michelle Graham's research concerns the interaction of habitat structure and locomotion, with a focus on the locomotor abilities of gliding snakes. She seeks to understand how habitat structure affects the ecology and evolution of arboreal species, and possibly make predictions about how changes in habitat will affect animals in the future. Read the full story here.
Interviewer: Caroline Stewart
Video: Addie Martin
Carol Nichols studies banded mongoose behavior and habitat use in Northern Botswana. Nichols chose this project because of her passion for improving our knowledge related to wildlife disease and ecological health. Read the full story here.
Interviewer: Amy Foltz
Video: Addie Martin
Maddie Brouse obtained her undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech in 2017 during which time she worked on the Flint lead crisis and assisted in several corrosion based studies. Her master’s thesis research is now focused on hurricane response for private well owners and has contributed to the bacterial testing for victims of Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Read the full story here.
Interviewer: Antonia Baker
Video: Chiron Anderson
Make more, use less, leave minimal footprints: that is the overarching goal of research in dairy cattle nutrition. In particular, the lab Jacquelyn Prestegaard works in at Virginia Tech focuses on modeling carefully-crafted diets that shrink dairy’s environmental impact and give the farmer maximum profit through milk yield. At Kentland Farm just outside of Blacksburg, VA, Prestegaard and fellow researchers conduct nutritional trials that help determine the cow’s specific dietary needs for protein — more specifically amino acids, which are protein’s “building blocks.” Read the full story here.
Interviewer: Chiron Anderson
Video: Chiron Anderson
Seyedreza Fateminasab He has completed his bachelor’s and master’s degree, both in architecture, at Tehran University of Art and Tehran University, Iran. His research is about modifying digital tools which architects use in order to create harmony between these tools and the act of design. Read the full story here.
Interviewer: Sebastian Wellford
Video: Chiron Anderson