The college has also been the recipient of research funding from national organizations . For example , in 2011 , the National Institute of Food and Agriculture ( NIFA ) awarded Virginia Tech 's Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conversation $ 3.4 million of a coordinated agricultural grant to study the effects of climate change on southern pine forests . Additionally , in 2010 , researchers from Virginia Tech 's College of Natural Resources and Environment received a $ 3.4 million grant from the United States Department of the Interior to study the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on piping plovers , shorebirds that have been listed as threatened since 1986
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environment