News

From VT News

An international birder who has been trying to get some migratory bird legislation passed, Congressman Morgan Griffith on Wednesday visited Virginia Tech’s new aviary on the Blacksburg campus to learn about its research.

Regarding his interest in avian legislation, Griffith (R-VA)  joined Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL) in introducing the Federal Bird-Safe Buildings Act (H.R. 2280) on May 12, 2015. Applying strictly to federal government buildings, the legislation requires new buildings to include bird-safe building materials and design features ...

Congratulations to graduate student, Sydney Hope, who received the Best Student Poster award at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Annual Meeting in the Division of Animal Behavior. The conference was held January 3-7, 2016 in Portland, Oregon. Sydney presented a poster entitled, “The effect of incubation temperature on Wood Duck duckling behavior”, which described the results from her most recent project. She found that ducklings incubated at an intermediate incubation temperature tend to exhibit shier behaviors than those ...

Dr. Ignacio Moore (BIOL) and Dr. William Hopkins (FWC) are offering “Tropical Ecology & Conservation BIOL 3954/FIW 3954 (6 credits)” in Spring and Summer I 2016. The course is open to all majors. The Spring course will be taught on campus.

During Summer I, the class will travel to Ecuador where students will traverse multiple ecosystems, from the Amazonian lowland rainforest to the high altitude Andes. Students will visit one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, and visit with ...

From VT News

BLACKSBURG, Va., Oct. 5, 2015 – Once a baby wood duckling hatches, it follows its mother’s repetitive whistle-like call to jump out of the nest and join its siblings in a family group.

But whether a duckling successfully follows depends on the nest environment, said fish and wildlife conservation graduate student Sydney Hope of Howell, New Jersey.

Using Virginia Tech’s new Research Aviary, Hope investigates how the wood duck’s nesting environment affects its ability to perform certain behaviors important for ...

From VT News:

BLACKSBURG, Va., Sept. 21, 2015 – Today, Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment officially opens its new Research Aviary, one of few such university facilities in the region.

“Virginia Tech has incredible strengths in avian biology, ecology, and conservation in the College of Natural Resources and Environment and in biological sciences in the College of Science,” said William Hopkins, professor of fish and wildlife conservation and an expert in the physiological ecology of amphibians, reptiles, ...

We are pleased to welcome Alicia Lowe, a Franklin County High School science teacher who is spending her summer learning more about scientific research. Alicia is participating in an NSF RET program at Virginia Tech (Research Experiences for Teachers) designed to enable schoolteachers to conduct real-world research and gain high-tech skills.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, this six-week summer program partners high school STEM teachers with a Virginia Tech host laboratory. Each teacher conducts research ...

Congratulations to Valentina Allasam who is graduating with a Biology degree with Virginia Tech’s class of 2015. Val has been an integral part of the Hopkins lab for three years and is a successful FLeDGE graduate as well.  She plans to take a year off to travel before applying to graduate school.

All the best to you, Val!