Gund Institute at UVM

We're back with another 90-Second Scientist!

Climate change is bringing more extreme weather to communities across the globe, including Vermont. Flooding churns up pollutants that can affect drinking water, but traditional water quality monitoring is expensive and data is limited.

Appala Raju Badireddy, an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Vermont and a Gund Faculty Fellow, wants to change that.

Enter: affordable microsensors that can provide real-time water quality data.

What started with seed funding from a Catalyst Award has turned into a $6 million project with collaborators in South Dakota and New Mexico.

Get an inside peek at Badireddy's lab: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjKv6o6Axyw

UVM College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences
University of Vermont

The 90-Second Scientist: Environmental Engineer Raju Badireddy Raju Badireddy's research group, ALCHEMIST, is advancing the health...

Remote sensing data, like LIDAR and satellite imagery, can provide scientists with a large-scale look at a study site. But the details matter, and sometimes, nuanced facts can only be found by getting out into the field in person, observing the ecosystem, and learning from the local community.

In this guest blog post for the British Ecological Society's Forest Ecology Group, Gund Grad Fellow and UVM Rubenstein School PhD student Onome Ofoman shares an example of a disconnect between what was on a map and what was on the ground, and why it matters for research:

Chasing Mangroves: When the Map and the Field Tell Different Stories Written by Onome Ofoman (Guest Writer)Maps give us direction and a sense of understanding of a location before our feet even touch the ground. As ecologists, we often begin our work scrolling through satellite imagery, identifying landscape patterns to guide our research [1]. This was exactly how I....

What policies are needed — or need to change — to help rural economies thrive? Gund fellows were among the 30+ policy experts and Vermont practitioners, who this week helped shape that conversation as part of the SEEC Institute’s Thriving Economy Project. Thank you to the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) Institute for including Vermont in this important conversation and to UVM Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships for taking the lead on organizing. And a big thanks to Rep. Becca Balint and her team for participating in this work! Keep a lookout for SEEC's final report out this September, which will feature recommendations in nine key issue areas and be shared with the SEEC Caucus.

As increasingly severe and frequent climate threats are bringing new and continued challenges to rural economies, what opportunities and challenges do you see for rural economies? Let us know in the comments.

Gund grad fellow Anna Maassel discusses her research into the effects of summer wildfire smoke on children with asthma. Watch below:

Research Profile: Anna Maassel and Wildfire Smoke's Effects on Childhood Asthma Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

Congratulations to Gund Fellow Teresa Mares, winner of a 2025-26 University of Vermont Humanities Center Public Humanities Fellowship!

Working with Vermont Humanities and Vermont Weavers' Guild, Professor Mares will interview Vermont fiber artists and document their practice. We're excited to see the results!

Did you catch Gund director and UVM Rubenstein School professor Taylor Ricketts on NPR this week?

Taylor shared his insights on a new study in Nature that estimates in Nepal's rural communities pollinators are responsible for more than 20% of people's intake of key vitamins, and more than 40% of their income. When applied to communities worldwide, millions of people could be affected.

Missed it? Check it out: https://www.npr.org/2026/05/06/nx-s1-5807663/preserving-pollinators-is-good-for-health-and-income

Thanks Jonathan Lambert for the great story.

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The Gund Institute for Environment is proud to celebrate the 2026 faculty award recipients at the University of Vermont, including colleagues whose work across and beyond the Gund continues to advance scholarship and elevate UVM’s impact on campus and beyond.

Congratulations to:
Paul Bierman—University Distinguished Professor Award
Eva Kinnebrew—Excellence in Online Teaching Award
M. Noelia Barrios-García—President’s Distinguished Lecturer Award
V. Ernesto Méndez—University Scholars Award (Basic & Applied Sciences)

Congratulations to all recipients for their outstanding contributions to research, teaching, and service.

We sometimes joke that every day is here at the Gund as our researchers work to solve some of the most challenging environment problems facing the planet. But sometimes, it can feel like things aren't moving fast enough.

One way to combat that feeling is to do something! So, today, our community fanned out around Farrell Hall and picked up trash (and also a full pair of skis!) and repotted plants. It may not solve the climate crisis, but it's a great reminder that we can all do things to take care of the environment. 🌍

For the third year in a row, Gund Graduate Fellows are leading the way at University of Vermont's Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition.

This year’s top honor went to UVM Rubenstein School Ph.D. student Anna Maassel, whose research explores how wildfire smoke impacts children’s asthma, an emergent issue in the Northeast.

In just 180 seconds, Anna distilled complex research into a clear, compelling story about health, environment, and why it matters. Her work builds on a recent UVM study linking Canadian wildfire smoke to worsening asthma symptoms in children in Vermont and upstate New York.

The 3MT competition challenges Ph.D. students to explain their research in plain language, with just one slide and no jargon. It’s no easy task, but Anna says the experience helped her develop ways to communicate her work far beyond academia.

With three consecutive wins by Gund Fellows, it’s clear this community is doing something right: leading research and inspires action! https://go.uvm.edu/8xlb7

A month into war with Iran, gas prices are soaring and the U.S. government has opened its strategic oil reserve and temporarily lifted sanctions against Russian (and Iranian) oil and gas to combat rising fuel prices and calm financial markets.

Even if the conflict ended today, energy experts estimate a ripple effect could last months or even years. Could a fossil fuel crunch catalyze a global pivot toward greener, more sustainable, energy practices? Three University of Vermont experts weigh in:

Could Rising Oil Prices and Political Uncertainty from War with Iran Fuel a New Era of Green Energy? UVM Experts Weigh in. | UVM News | The University of Vermont show the image caption close caption Photo by Ratlfink for Pixabay. Could Rising Oil Prices and Political Uncertainty from War with Iran Fuel a New Era of Green Energy? UVM Experts Weigh in. Culture & Society Environment Share March 30, 2026 By Kristen Munson A month into war with Iran, the U.S. gov...