College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Food Packaging Borrows Space-Age Technology
Learning Something from Nothing
Researcher Develops New Process to Reduce Cost of Ethanol Production
Mentoring Academic Growth in the Community
Mapping Concepts from the Classroom to the Computer
Virginia Tech Assists with Food Safety and Security Efforts
Students Share Nutrition Information
Virginia Tech Expands Aquaculture Research Efforts
Nuts and Seeds May Help Lower Cholesterol
Transforming Lives
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the first issue of Innovations, which, true to its name, showcases our college’s innovations and impacts across our three missions – instruction, research, and Extension. We will take this opportunity to highlight the significant programs in the college on an annual basis and how they improve people’s lives in Virginia, the nation, and the world.
As society and production agriculture have changed over time, so
have we as a college. Today, the college has adapted its program to
society’s changing needs and expectations and is ideally positioned
to be one of the forerunners in the nation among peer agriculture
and life sciences colleges. Finding cures for devastating and debilitating diseases, sustaining agriculture and with it our food
supply and the environment; improving human health and nutrition;
and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels are pressing issues that
concern all of us.
We have focused our resources and efforts to address these problems through our learning, discovery, and engagement
programs via the following six core program areas: agricultural
profitability, production efficiency, and environmental sustainability; food, nutrition and health; biodesign and bioprocessing; the green industry, including specialty crops and organics; infectious diseases; and community viability.
These programmatic themes are carried throughout all of our
activities: Our students learn, in the classroom and through handson
experience alongside our outstanding faculty, how to help solve
these problems. Finding solutions through cutting-edge research is
the very core of our scientists’ work. We are fortunate to have
outstanding faculty members in the college who collaborate with
colleagues across academic departments in the college, at Virginia
Tech, and at other universities to form the strongest interdisciplinary
teams. Virginia Cooperative Extension and other national and
international outreach efforts deliver the research-based solutions to
the citizens here in Virginia, the nation, and overseas.
These are exciting times for us, and I am excited about being a
part of the college. We transform lives and the future for our
communities, the environment, and agriculture. I invite you to join
me for an interesting read and explore the ways by which we are
building the foundation for a better future.
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| Sharron Quisenberry, Dean |