Outreach and International Affairs -- the work

[00:00:11] >> In far southwest Virginia the tiny town of Pennington Gap benefited from a Virginia Tech community development study, and this led to a team of students and researchers providing an even more intensive intervention. Former Blacksburg Mayor Ron Rordam coordinates the Rural Resilience Initiative for Outreach and international Affairs. [00:00:34] It has made such a difference to have the university, of university representatives there, helping them, decide on their fate, what they need, giving them guidance to understand what's reasonable, what can happen, and then to put together a list of priorities that will will help them tackle those particular issues. [00:00:58] Save Our Towns to Virginia Tech is not just saving the towns in Virginia, it's saving the towns nationally and saving towns globally. And our very premise is that we work hand in glove, our academic researchers and our students -- undergraduate and graduate -- work with towns around the world. [00:01:23] to remedy the ills of whatever may be inflicted upon the local towns or society. It is about bringing what's best about Virginia Tech around the world to bear to solve the problems of global society. Carla Finkielstein of the College of Science was one of more than half a dozen researchers who spent time in Singapore, their work sponsored by Outreach and International Affairs. [00:01:56] We are all scientists, right? We -- we love what we do. We have the chance to sit dow