The Virginia Tech media relations workplace has the next specialists out there for interviews this week surrounding points within the information. To schedule an interview, please contact mediarelations@vt.edu.
Israel-Hamas Struggle
Virginia Tech has a lot of specialists out there to talk on quite a lot of subjects surrounding the battle. Extra right here.
Authorities and worldwide affairs knowledgeable Joel Peters researches Israeli politics and international coverage, the Arab-Israeli peace course of, regional cooperation within the Center East and Europe’s relations within the Center East and the Mediterranean.
Because the battle continues, specialists say it can have an financial affect throughout the globe. Mike Ellerbrock, a professor within the Division of Agriculture and Utilized Economics, is on the market to debate the brief and long run impacts it can have on power costs, provide chain, and world distribution of oil.
9 Republicans vying for Home speaker
Final week Rep. Jim Jordan did not turn into speaker of the Home after three votes on the Home flooring. Tonight, the social gathering will hear from 9 new candidates and it might decide its subsequent speaker-designate as early as tomorrow. All that is occurring whereas the clock is ticking to keep away from a authorities shutdown mid-November. Virginia Tech political knowledgeable Karen Hult is on the market for interviews as this develops all through the week.
Halloween is predicted to look rather a lot like Barbie’s Dreamland
The extensively profitable summer time movie’s stars, Barbie and Ken, have discovered their manner onto the highest Halloween costume lists for this yr. In actual fact, social media has even dubbed the vacation #Barbieween. Popular culture has lengthy impressed trend, together with Halloween costumes. Dina Smith-Glaviana, a Virginia Tech assistant professor of trend merchandising and design, can focus on how costume tendencies comply with widespread tv exhibits and films and a few the reason why many adults need to costume like Barbie.
Virginia Tech Information on Instagram
In search of story concepts on social media? Virginia Tech has launched a brand new Instagram account, @virginiatech_news. This account gives a brand new platform to spotlight new analysis, school experience, and Hokies within the information, and can showcase extra video content material and all the good tales involving #Hokies around the globe. We encourage you to comply with right here.
New Podcast Function
Maaz Gardezi joins Virginia Tech’s ‘Curious Conversations’ to speak in regards to the significance of growing agriculture know-how alongside and with the enter of farmers. He shared particulars a couple of present interdisciplinary venture he’s engaged on on the intersection of know-how and agriculture, in addition to his ideas on the potential for superior know-how on this area. Gardezi is an assistant professor of sociology within the School of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. He has spent greater than a decade working on the intersection of farmers and determination making.
New episodes will debut every Tuesday all through the autumn. Skilled researchers are additionally out there for media interviews. To hear and be taught extra, click on right here.
Analysis Spotlight
$5 million grant to discover COVID-19 virus ecology on the human-animal interface
On the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Virginia Tech illness ecologists puzzled if the virus was having the identical impact on wildlife. With the help of a $5 million grant from the U.S. Division of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Well being Inspection Service, principal investigator Joseph Hoyt and co-principal investigators Carla Finkielstein, Kate Langwig, and James Weger-Lucarelli will take an interdisciplinary method to exploring the danger of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, infections in wildlife communities. These communities embody frequent yard species, resembling white-footed and deer mice, opossums, squirrels, skunks, and raccoons. Extra right here.
$9 million award from the Division of Protection will fund groundbreaking FutureG analysis
Virginia Tech is main the push into FutureG wi-fi know-how by Wi-fi@Virginia Tech and the Innovation Campus in Alexandria, VA, set to open in 2024. The objective is to focus completely on NextG wi-fi, networking, and computing techniques which will have potential impacts for the way forward for NextG requirements.
Lingjia Liu, professor {of electrical} and laptop engineering who can also be an inaugural school member on the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, has been awarded a $9 million grant from the U.S. Division of Protection to steer a workforce researching Cell dMIMO-facilitated advanced and large-scale wi-fi networks to assist outline and set the requirements for FutureG know-how. The Cell dMIMO venture represents one of many largest single awards obtained by a school member on the School of Engineering at Virginia Tech. Extra right here.
Researcher brings the examine of sinking land to the United Nations
Virginia Tech land subsidence knowledgeable and affiliate professor of geophysics and distant sensing, Manoochehr Shirzaei has been invited to hitch the United Nations College, the suppose tank and academy arm of the United Nations. Shirzaei not solely will function a senior analysis fellow for the United Nations College Institute for Water, Setting and Well being, he additionally will break new floor for the group associated to sinking land, referred to as land subsidence.
“Dr. Shirzaei is among the main researchers on this area primarily based on the work he has accomplished, each when it comes to analysis and outreach,” mentioned Kavah Madani, director of the institute. “He’ll lead a brand new initiative on land subsidence, which is able to enhance the UN member states’ understanding of an neglected anthropogenic [environmental change caused by human action or inaction] drawback that is called a ticking bomb threatening public infrastructure, human belongings, and livelihood around the globe.” Extra right here.
