2010 Stories
Dr. John Boon, the study's lead author, says the good news is that "absolute sea level in Chesapeake Bay is rising only about half as fast as the global average rise rate." The bad news, says Boon, is that "local subsidence more than makes up for it."
At first glance, algae seem like ideal candidates for biofuel. After all, each algal organism has at its center a dab of energy-rich oils and sugars. If you get enough algae, you can extract the oil—or ferment the sugar into alcohol—and use it to put a sizeable dent in the world’s thousand barrel per second petroleum consumption.
The College's Committee on Sustainability (COS) has announced the projects funded for fall 2010 from the student green fee.
U.S. Senator Mark Warner visited the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in July to discuss oyster-restoration strategies in the Chesapeake Bay. David Malmquist
The College of William & Mary received a “B+” overall on the 2011 College Sustainability Report Card, improving on last year’s “B” and continuing the upward trajectory in sustainability efforts and achievements by the College.
Dr. Jack Musick, emeritus professor at the College of William and Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science, has overseen a global study suggesting that 33 percent of shark, skate, and ray species are threatened with extinction.
The College of William & Mary has recently become a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, an association of colleges and universities that are working to create a sustainable future.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded the College of William and Mary $500,000 to study various aspects of using wild aquatic algae as both biofuel feedstock and as a medium for helping to clean contaminated waterways.
Traveling to and from William & Mary is about to become a whole lot easier, and a lot more sustainable, through a new carpooling program established by the College over the summer.
Research by Professor Bob Diaz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science lies at the heart of a new White House report on the growing problem of low-oxygen marine "dead zones."
The car sharing program Zipcar came to campus in August.
Beginning this month, faculty, staff and students will find a number of new large recycling containers across campus to collect paper, glass, plastic bottles and aluminum or tin cans.
Jane Gray Morris '13 uses a summer grant from the Committee on Sustainability to revitalize sustainably gardening behind the Caf.
William & Mary's faculty, library and undergraduate happiness level have again been ranked among the best in the country, according to the latest survey by The Princeton Review.
Robert J. Diaz, VIMS professor of biological sciences, briefed the U.S. Sentate's Science and Technology Caucus on the ecological impact of chemical dispersants on the ocean and its marine life.
A team of students and faculty launch an experimental algae-cultivation flume in Lake Matoaka. It's an initiative of the Chesapeake Algae Project (ChAP), whose goal is to generate algae-based biofuel.
Dredging of navigational channels in Chesapeake Bay is crucial to maintaining Virginia's role as a leading gateway for international shipping, particularly with the advent of deeper-draft container vessels. A new study by VIMS professor Linda Schaffner provides data that can help future in-water disposal of dredge spoils proceed with minimal environmental impact.
Virginia Senator Mark Warner visited the Virginia Institute of Marine Science on July 9th to discuss oyster-restoration strategies in Chesapeake Bay. The stop was his last on a three-day trip through Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore.
A study of gas hydrates by researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, is among the top 25 most-downloaded articles in the journal Marine Chemistry according to Science Direct, an on-line database of the latest trends and developments in science.
Diners in Williamsburg-area eateries late this summer may be tasting the results of a William & Mary sustainable agriculture internship.
VIMS researchers and alumni are helping to craft the nation's immediate and long-term scientific responses to the Gulf oil spill.
The first Ethical Fashion Show at William & Mary highlights the commitment of the university and its students to sustainability.
A VIMS study of 400-year-old oyster shells from the Jamestown settlement confirms that a harsh drought plagued the early years of the colony and made the James River much saltier than today.
A VIMS study of 400-year-old oyster shells from the Jamestown settlement confirms that a harsh drought plagued the early years of the colony and made the James River much saltier than today.
Out-of-work commercial watermen pulled up more than 9,000 derelict so-called "ghost pots" from the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries this winter.
Rusty blackbirds are threatened across their range--except on the William & Mary campus.
The seagrass program at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, is collaborating with The Nature Conservancy for the third consecutive spring to use volunteers, especially recreational divers and snorkelers, in the largest and most successful seagrass restoration project in the world.
Marine Science Day 2010 drew a record crowd to VIMS for the annual parade, exhibits and a chance to fish the York River.
CrimD is a bacteriophage, possibly the only newly discovered form of life to be found at a college landmark. Its unusual properties have made it a kind of Oscar nominee in bacteriological circles.
The College of William and Mary has been awarded $1.2 million in funding by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), part of a nationwide program to help universities strengthen undergraduate and precollege science education.
W&M institute will use its annual Marine Science day open house on May 22 to educate recreational crabbers on making, using critical bycatch reduction devices.
Steinberg-led VIMS team to join Amazon River research project by David Malmquist
The Undergraduate Business Program at the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary ranks second in the areas of sustainability and marketing, according to the Bloomberg Businessweek Best Business Programs by Specialty 2010.
East Coast loggerheads proposed for endangered species list.
Committee on Sustainability announces College's top-10 DOTs.
The VIMS' American Eel Monitoring Team is working this spring to count the young eels migrating into Virginia's freshwater tributaries and estuaries.
Home of the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary, one of the nation's oldest universities, is one of a handful of academic buildings earning Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
It's a multimedia, interdisciplinary look at one of the world's most toxic substances.
William & Mary's lodge buildings may soon serve as a model for people and businesses looking to create and sustain "green" living spaces.
W&M, in the midst of a campus-wide campaign focused on institutional and individual sustainability, has become the nation's first "Do One Thing" university.
Hope, a whimbrel fitted with a transmitter last year, has returned to the Eastern Shore. She's the first whimbrel the Center for Conservation Biology has tracked on the migratory "full circle."
William & Mary's Committee on Sustainability (COS) announced the funding of five awards for sustainability internships for the summer of 2010. This is the second year for these awards.
And now, as the first DOT university, the students, faculty and staff at William and Mary are implementing these ideas, and helping to push the College into a leadership role for all other universities in the realm of personal sustainability.
Professors from VIMS, William & Mary and University of Maryland pursue clean water and sustainable fuel sources in Gloucester Point.
A recently published study by researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science suggests that filter feeding by Atlantic menhaden has little net effect on overall water quality in Chesapeake Bay.
Two federal agencies have proposed to list the East Coast population of loggerhead sea turtles as an endangered species.
Nearly 100 faculty-mentored undergraduate research projects in the sciences were presented at the 16th Annual Undergraduate Research Science Symposium.
From its base in the power center of Washington, D.C., the Global Environmental Governance Project engages the tough problems surrounding international environmental institutions and laws.
W&M's Dining Services officially launched its program to compost much of the food waste from the dining facilities on campus, cutting its waste production by approximately one third.
Students and faculty members from William & Mary were featured during global event in China.
The College of William and Mary, partnering with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, will offer a new undergraduate minor in marine science.
Dr. Marjorie Friedrichs of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, will join experts from 20 other countries to provide guidance to the United Nations concerning the computer models that are used to project the magnitude and rate of future climate change.
William & Mary's interdisciplinary environmental program is expanding, thanks to a new post-doctoral fellowship program.
The Lynnhaven River Oyster Restoration Teama partnership between the College of William and Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science, the Army Corps of Engineers, the City of Virginia Beach, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, and Lynnhaven River NOWhas been selected to receive a 2009 Coastal America Partnership Award for innovative efforts to restore the river's native oyster population.
A private gift from Adrian G. "Casey" Duplantier Jr., matched by 1st Advantage Federal Credit Union of Newport News, will support another season of Antarctic field research for two W&M students¬graduate student Kate Ruck of W&M's School of Marine Science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and W&M undergraduate Sarah Giltz.