BLACKSBURG, Va., Sept. 26, 2012 – Virginia Tech’s College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering
recently celebrated the opening of a shared laboratory that will
be key to developing advanced technology for unmanned aerial and
underwater vehicles. The Kentland Experimental Aerial Systems
Laboratory provides 2,000-square-feet of space for students and
faculty members in both colleges to conduct research that will
examine everything from the spread of airborne plant pathogens
to the creation of more high-tech submarines. The lab will also
be used to educate and train the next generation of agricultural
scientists and engineers. David Schmale, associate professor in
the Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science
in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, leads a team
that has developed small, unmanned aerial vehicles that sample
microbes far above the Earth’s surface. Some of these microbes
have the potential to cause devastating plant diseases. “An
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