To assist in your reporting on Earth Day and the stewardship of our resources, the University of Virginia has experts in a number of fields that bring into focus the widespread concern for and research in protecting our planet from the global challenges that confront us.
Teresa B. Culver, associate professor of environmental engineering.
Culver is an expert in water quality management, i.e., how best to clean up or prevent pollution of surface water and ground water supplies. She currently is director of U.Va.'s GAANN Program in Contaminant Hydrogeology. Several faculty members in U.Va.'s Program on Interdisciplinary Research in Contaminant Hydrogeology (PIRCH) participate in the U.S. Department of Education-sponsored GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need) program, which focuses on providing future faculty members with interdisciplinary training in hydrogeology, geochemistry, microbial ecology, and civil and chemical engineering. "A critical challenge we face, given limited financial resources, is the development of management and clean-up plans that are both cost-effective and reliable," Culver said. "We never have complete information about an environmental system; for instance, we can't know future precipitation or subsurface conditions with certainty. So, computational simulation and decision models that incorporate uncertainty can help us avoid costly failures of cleanup projects."
Rick Webb and Jack Cosby, research professors of environmental sciences
Webb and Cosby have been monitoring and studying mountain trout streams in the central and southern Appalachians for more than 25 years. Their studies show that only about 50 percent of Virginia's mountain streams support native trout, down from about 80 percent before the start of the Industrial Age in the mid-1800s.Because of the types of soils and bedrock in the southeast, many of the streams in the region are highly susceptible to acidification from acid rain. Webb's and Cosby's recent findings indicate that the streams are three to four times more sensitive than previously thought. Despite improved air quality since amendments to the Clean Air Act took effect in 1991, declines in fish and insect populations are continuing and the numbers of species also are declining.
"There is a resulting loss of biodiversity," Cosby said. "The effects and residual effects of acid rain in the southeast are ongoing." Acidic emissions likely will need to be further reduced, he added.
Mike Erwin, research professor of environmental sciencesErwin, a bird expert with joint appointments at the University of Virginia and the U.S. Geological Survey, is helping engineers design a wetland bird habitat on Poplar Island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. He is attempting to create ideal conditions to encourage nesting for terns and other threatened birds.Poplar Island is a work in progress — both an active construction site and a living laboratory. More than 100 species of shore and migratory birds have been recorded on the island, including osprey, least and common terns, bald eagles, egrets, ducks, geese and swans, cormorants and gulls.
Sponsored by the Baltimore District of the Army Corps of Engineers and the Maryland Port Administration, dredge material from shipping channels is transported to Poplar Island and is being laid in a configuration that allows for upland bird nesting as well as marshland habitat. This is a 20-year, $394 million project to turn Poplar Island into a 1,110-acre wildlife refuge.
"This island serves as a bird magnet," Erwin says. "The birds fly down the bay looking for a place to nest or stop, and here it is — a wetland oasis in the middle of the broad open Chesapeake. It is encouraging news."
John D. Quale, assistant professor of architectureA leading expert on sustainable and modular building practices, Quale is leading a multi-year research and design/build project at the University of Virginia School of Architecture called ecoMOD. Over the next several years, U.Va. students and faculty are designing and will construct several 1,000 to 1,250 square-foot ecological, modular and affordable homes.
The first ecoMOD house " the OUTin house " was completed in Charlottesville, Va., in partnership with Piedmont Housing Alliance (PHA). The U.Va. School of Engineering and Applied Science is a partner for both ecoMOD1 and ecoMOD2, which is currently under design. One of six Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville (HFHGC) projects for Katrina relief housing, ecoMOD2 will be product of a unique student / faculty effort. Quale, who serves as project director, is producing the schematic design. He is working with a team of graduate and undergraduate architecture and engineering students to develop the ecoMOD2 design and build the environmentally responsible panelized house kit. Engineering Professor Paxton Marshall is coordinating the work of the engineering students. The house kit will be fabricated at a decommissioned airport owned by the University, and then shipped to Biloxi, Miss. by the end of the spring 2006 semester.
Quale also served as the architecture advisor / coordinator for the 2002 U.Va. Solar Decathlon Team, a national design/build house competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.Va. team won 1st Place in the Design & Livability event of the 2002 Decathlon, and 2nd Place overall.
"It is widely known that prefabricated building techniques can save time, money and materials, the potential environmental benefits of this method are largely unrecognized by the industry. Off-site construction can significantly reduce the energy required to construct a building."
Phoebe Crisman, assistant professor of architecture
University of Virginia assistant professor of architecture Phoebe Crisman and students are exploring an exciting and unique floating environmental education field station located on the most polluted river in the Chesapeake Bay, the Elizabeth River.
"The Learning Barge: researching + teaching about environmental + cultural ecologies on the Elizabeth River" will provide meaningful K-12 and public environmental education about how the river, and hence the ocean, and humans are inextricably interconnected. The Elizabeth River is a tidal estuary—an important nursery for marine and aquatic species that is severely impacted by human actions. Participants will learn about the ongoing river restoration, the tidal estuary ecosystem and its importance to our ocean, and the river's economic and transportation significance as a major world port. The project is a collaboration among Crisman, students in U.Va.'s architecture school, the Elizabeth River Project, the NOAA Chesapeake Bay office, diverse educational partners, the maritime community and technical experts. The U.Va. School of Architecture will research, design and possibly fabricate the project over a two-year period.Unlike environmental education centers located in pristine "nature," the Learning Barge traverses an important urban river where the complex relationship between human settlement and the natural world is jarringly visible. The heavily industrialized and polluted Elizabeth River can be an important generator of both livelihoods and learning for those who reside on her shores in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. The Learning Barge will visit ongoing conservation and restoration sites on the Elizabeth for a few months at a time—each site demonstrating particular environmental lessons.
The 30' x 90' recycled barge will support a contained bed wetland that filters graywater and creates habitat. Off-the-shelf, state of the art solar technologies will be innovatively integrated into the barge's design, building systems and the construction process. Sustainable building concepts will be used, including rainfall and graywater reuse systems, composting waste disposal, passive solar concepts and daylighting, and material choices. The movable barge will travel to ongoing sediment remediation, pollution prevention, and wetland and shellfish restoration projects along the river.
"Using the Elizabeth River's specific and intertwined cultural and environmental ecologies, students and visitors will learn about the earth's dynamic water and air systems, how they shape our lives and the importance of environmental stewardship."
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