Experts available: UN General Assembly, AI and air traffic control, midterm elections, oil prices, and extreme weather
Virginia Tech experts are available this week to discuss top news stories, including the U.S. and Iranian presidents speaking at the UN, Al tools for air traffic control, the stakes for both parties (and AI) in the midterms, rapidly rising oil prices, and weather extremes. To schedule an interview with any of them or if you need analysis on other topics, please contact mediarelations@vt.edu.
UN General Assembly and the Iran War
Foreign policy expert Robert Hodges can provide analysis as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran looms over this week’s UN General Assembly, where President Trump and the Iranian president are both expected to speak. (Available starting Tuesday.)
AI in the air traffic control tower
The Federal Aviation Administration will soon launch an artificial intelligence tool to manage flights and ease air travel congestion. Aerospace engineer Ella Atkins can explain what this technology will mean for airline safety.
Midterm elections stakes and AI’s role
As the midterms approach, the stakes and risks heighten for both Republicans and Democrats given the razor-thin majorities in both houses of Congress. Cayce Myers can discuss these stakes and how AI regulation and growth play into them.
Calls for AI guardrails
With AI regulations and growing use of AI agents in daily life generating headlines, Virginia Tech experts Rishi Jaitly, Naren Ramakrishnan, Walid Saad, and Lee Vinsel can discuss needed safety guardrails, risk mitigation, and industry development.
Pain at the pump and climbing oil prices
Economic expert Jadrian Wooten explains how Middle East turmoil affects gas and diesel prices everywhere. As he notes in his Monday Morning Economist newsletter, prices “rise like a rocket but fall slowly, like a feather.”
Record El Niño and September nor’easter
Meteorology expert Andrew Ellis can discuss why the El Niño that developed this summer is on track to become the strongest on record. Additionally, civil engineering experts David Muñoz and Jennifer Irish can discuss new research revealing how rising sea levels and storms combine to worsen storm surge and flooding along the East Coast and Chesapeake Bay as a rare September nor’easter forms.
Podcast: The challenges of drones on the defense front
Austin Phoenix, an associate research professor at the Virginia Tech National Security Institute and a leader of the university’s new Counter-UAS Testing and Research Center, joined Virginia Tech’s “Curious Conversations” this week. He discussed unmanned aerial systems, commonly called drones, the challenges they present to the defense sector, and ongoing university research to mitigate threats.
“Curious Conversations” is available on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube.
Research Highlight
Study busts decades-old myth about the U.S. bedbug comeback
A new study led by Virginia Tech entomologist Warren Booth upends a 30-year belief about the U.S. bedbug resurgence, proving the pests were not reintroduced by international travelers from Europe in the 1990s as long thought. Instead, DNA analysis reveals U.S. bedbugs are genetically distinct, having survived mid-century eradication efforts in small domestic pockets before evolving local insecticide resistance and rebounding nationwide. Read more about the study at this link.
