Experts available: Wildfires and flooding, AI executive order and in the classroom, keeping kids off screens, and more
The Virginia Tech media relations office has the following experts available for interviews this week surrounding issues in the news. To schedule an interview, please contact mediarelations@vt.edu.
Virginia Tech experts available to discuss headlines in the news
Wildfire causes and how they can worsen flooding, air quality
While several areas of the U.S. have been inundated with heavy flooding from summer storms, wildfire season is in full swing across much of the country. According to Brian Lattimer, head of the Virginia Tech Department of Mechanical Engineering, whose team has worked on firefighting solutions, the Madre Fire “signals the result of some of the drier, warmer weather that is beginning in the West. This dries out vegetation growth, creating easily ignitable fuel.”
Even if you don’t live in a particularly fire-prone area, you may feel the impact of smoke from wildfires hundreds or thousands of miles away. Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz says his “general advice for the average person is to follow the guidance of the AQI for smoke, like they might for any other air quality event.”
Wildfires can also be precursors to flooding and mudslides, as we’ve seen in the recent flooding in New Mexico, which ripped through areas previously devastated by fires, known as burn scars. “Any time you have a wildfire that exhibits high severity and exposes bare mineral soil in a watershed, you are likely to see erosion and flooding,” says Adam Coates, an expert in wildland fire ecology and management. More here.
Trump’s AI executive order expected this week
President Trump is expected to announce a series of executive orders this week, including one with mandates for government agencies to use politically neutral AI models. Cayce Myers, a professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, says Trump's approach to artificial intelligence regulation prioritizes making the United States the global force in the new technology. He’s available to speak to the changes the administration is looking to make and how they could impact both the government and general public.
AI in the classroom: Tools, training, and the future of education
Like many of the students in their classroom, teachers are also embracing AI. Educators' use of generative AI rose from 51 percent to 67 percent between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years, according to K-12 Dive. Now, Microsoft and OpenAI, in partnership with the American Federation of Teachers, are launching an AI training program for educators. Artificial Intelligence and education experts Andrew Katz, Amy Allen, and Sally Hamouda, are available to explain why getting teachers the tools and training they need is so crucial to the future of education, and can provide examples of how using AI in the classroom can build foundational AI literacy in real time. More here.
Experts offer tips to keep teens engaged – and off screens – this summer
While summer may provide teens with a much-needed break from the classroom, it often comes with a heavy dose of screen time and perhaps some boredom. Virginia Tech experts share tips to keep teens active, curious, and engaged through the dog days of summer.
Cynthia Smith, professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, is available to explain why limiting teens’ screen time through parental controls can help, but doing so without offering alternative activities can lead them to feel bored and resentful.
Clint Whitten, assistant director of the Center for Rural Education, can speak to the financial and mobility barriers, along with the challenge of sustaining motivation and keeping consistent routines, that parents face when planning summer activities.
Pam Gilchrist, director of K-12 Initiatives in the D.C. area, can share why finding ways to overcome the summer education slide, or the decline of academic skills students experience, is so important, and can share activities for students. More here.
Research Highlights: Shark Week Edition
Researchers use environmental DNA to track elusive, endangered sharks
The Mediterranean white shark is as elusive and mysterious as the sharks in the Atlantic and Pacific are well known. In a quest to learn more about them, researchers in Virginia Tech’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation are skimming surface water and leveraging environmental DNA — genetic material shed by sharks into water from their saliva, epithelial skin cells, and feces — to help pinpoint their location.
“There’s this really cool opportunity to increase awareness and scientific knowledge of the sharks’ conservation status by scaling up and involving international boaters,” said Jeremy Jenrette, a Ph.D. candidate working on the project. More here.
