From drones to dirt, women to wasps, Outbursts chronicles university engagement
Soaring into unmanned aircraft technology (commonly known as drones), roving the fields of agriculture to empower women and help farmers battle bugs, and climbing to new heights for high school students – all are covered in recent issues of Outbursts, a publication of Outreach and International Affairs.
The two- to four-page monthly news briefing offers readers a look at how Outreach and International Affairs shares the best of Virginia Tech by working side by side with communities around the world.
The current issue explores the work of the Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab, showing how Rangaswamy “Muni” Muniappan, Virginia Tech’s world-renowned entomologist, employed a parasitic wasp to vanquish a crop pest.
Other recent stories include a Virginia Tech study revealing the readiness of Virginia’s technology workforce to meet the growing demand for unmanned aircraft systems and a profile of gender expert Maria Elisa Christie, who travels the globe studying gender in agriculture and elevating the impact of women.
Upcoming issues of Outbursts are slated to feature stories about the opening of the Language and Culture Institute’s new center in Northern Virginia, Virginia Tech’s role in a nationwide effort to save the American chestnut, and the launch of a monthly Internet video series called Save Our Towns, designed to promote prosperity in the Appalachian towns of Southwest Virginia.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
