Virginia Tech researchers seek out mysterious blankets of biomaterials By Danielle Lucey
A Rascal 110 UAV sits ready for a sampling mission at Virginia Tech’s Kentland Farm. All photos courtesy Schmale Laboratory at Virginia Tech.
S
omewhere, up in the air, live silent
passengers on a breeze. Kicked up
into the sky from as far away as other countries, these infinitesimally small microbes move in blanket-like waves. Not so silent is the havoc they can rain down on plant and animal life below, the results of which
Getting the project off the ground Ross has a background in dynamical systems and efficient space travel leveraged on gravity. By applying these concepts to the ways microbes move through the air, he can model and predict when these blankets
Farm, a campus-owned research farm about 10 miles west of Virginia Tech’s main Blacksburg, Va., campus. The facility has dedicated research areas and houses outreach and teaching space, where projects can bring in and educate stakeholders, members of the public and sometimes visit-
plague farmers, their crops, their animals
of microbes are on the move.
and even human health.
Schmale’s experience with unmanned aer-
functional and staffed in part through uni-
Called Lagrangian coherent structures by
ial vehicles puts the aircraft at the crux of
versity funding.
engineers, these dynamically distinct patches are typically talked about in terms of fluid
Schmale and Ross’ work, the tool that allows them to blend aerobiological monitor-
dynamics, relevant to ocean research. But
ing and plant pathology.
a project out of Virginia Tech hypothesizes
“We like to think about … microbial inva-
that similar structures occur in the air and waft between layers of the atmosphere. It’s these invisible blankets that brought Virginia Tech researchers David Schmale and Shane Ross together for their interdisciplinary research. Their work aims to determine when and where these waves of microbial
sions,” says Schmale, an associate professor in Virginia Tech’s Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology and Weed Science. He and Ross believe that pathogens move throughout the atmosphere and invade new territories. “We want to track them and find out where they’re coming from and where
invaders will happen and give farmers an
they’re going.”
early warning system to prepare for their
Virginia Tech is blessed with a large ag-
arrival.
18
ricultural research facility in its Kentland
Mission Critical
•
Spring 2012
ing school kids, says Schmale. The farm is
Most key for Schmale, however, is the facility’s 400-foot paved runway, perfect for the project’s fixed-wing unmanned systems. “Having the facility has been instrumental to our success,” says Schmale. “I would say in terms of challenges, getting that facility up and running, it didn’t happen overnight. We started all of our work basically on just a flat area of grass that the research farm gave us, and as we started to acquire resources, the administration started to respond with facilities.”