Engage with the Virginia Tech Coastal Collaborator
Since its opening in 2022, the Virginia Tech Coastal Collaborator has been on a mission to establish a base for Virginia Tech coastal work along the Chesapeake Bay.
To achieve this goal of collaborative partnerships, the VTCC has prioritized:
The VTCC engages with faculty and local partners on a variety of projects focused on regional issues and adaptation strategies related to climate change and extreme weather. These projects span disciplinary, sectoral, environmental, and social concerns, but are rooted in bottom-up expressions of local need, such as College of Science faculty working with Hampton Roads Sanitation District on wastewater projects.
The VTCC works to generate cutting-edge and applied interdisciplinary research on the impacts of climate change on communities. The team facilitates unique ways of bringing together natural, physical, and social sciences, such as CALS faculty working with coastal localities in identifying contaminants of emerging concern including PFAS in groundwater-sourced water supplies and stormwater.
The VTCC engages in the co-production of knowledge working with communities drawing from institutional excellence across the VT campus. We ensure knowledge-to-action tools and technologies that increase capacity for making decisions in a rapidly changing environment. We have partnered with agricultural extension agents sharing training with Black coastal farmers and the Department of Forestry’s Sentinel Landscape Program.
The VTCC is building a database of coastal funding opportunities available to faculty and partners through the academic year. We aim to facilitate interdisciplinary partnerships through collaboration across campus to achieve greater coastal resilience for all communities and ecosystems. Grants through the VTCC are at 26% indirect costs.
