Category: Sci/Tech

Hunter Grove, science and technology reporter

A toddler in a bee suit being during an educational event at the farm

“We understand the impact bees and our farm have on the environment and our community, which is why we want to keep it going long after we are gone.”

The importance of bees to our environment, farms and overall livelihood is something many people understand, but often only in the abstract. We hear that bee populations are declining. We are told they are responsible for pollinating much of the food we eat. But it is easy to recognize that these small insects matter without ever really seeing the work they do.

At Birdsong Farms, a small scale beekeeping operation in West Virginia, that work is visible.

Owners Deano and Patti Chlepas started their apiary as a personal project in 2005. What began with four hives has since grown into a full operation, including an online store and a steady presence at local markets. But the growth of the business has not changed its focus. The priority, they say, has always remained the same. The bees come first.

At first glance, you might not think the countless rows of wooden boxes along the farm contain anything other than air, but inside, thousands of bees are working in a manner so precise and efficient, it seems robotic. The low, harmonic buzzing of their efforts represents a calculated rhythm to their operation, not unlike the trading floor of a stock exchange.

For Deano and Patti, that rhythm is not something to control, but something to understand. Their role is less about directing the bees and more about responding to them. They watch for changes in hive weight, population, behavior and honey production. Each shift can signal something different, from a strong nectar flow to a struggling queen or the presence of disease.

Over time, that attention has shaped how they run Birdsong Farms. They emphasize natural beekeeping practices, limit chemical use and place hives where bees have access to diverse forage, including wildflowers and native plants. The goal is not just productivity, but resilience.

“We put the bees first in everything we do,” said Deano Chlepas. “I treat them like my children.”

Both manage the business side while also helping translate the work of the farm to the public. Whether through their online store or face to face conversations, they help bridge the gap between what happens inside a hive and what customers see in a jar of honey.

Together, the couple has built an operation that exists as a farm, a business and an educational space.

The fields of wildflowers and vibrant trees around the farm serve as monuments to the success of the bees and the owners who care for them, each blooming a quiet record of pollination that happened weeks before anyone noticed. What looks like untouched countryside is actually the result of constant, invisible labor.

That labor can be seen outside the fields of Birdsong Farms too. On any given Saturday morning, rows of raw honey jars, whipped honey coffee, and pastries can be seen lining the table of their booth at the Main Street Farmers Market. Transactions between customers are thoughtful and deliberate, as if each purchase carried more value than what the price tag says.

People want to know what flowers were in bloom, why one jar is darker than another or how the season affected production. The answers are rarely simple. Weather patterns, rainfall, plant diversity and timing all influence the final product.

As a result, each jar of honey represents more than a single ingredient. It reflects a set of environmental conditions, a season and the work of thousands of bees.

“So many different honey related products have become more popular lately, like raw and hot honey,” said Patti Chlepas. “We would like to make sure we can give people the best, unprocessed versions of all of these.”

A small subsection of the hive where the bees lay their brood

For Deano and Patti, selling honey is only a small part of what they do. The products on the table are a byproduct of a much larger process, one that depends on maintaining healthy colonies over time.

The real work happens in the hives.

Beekeeping requires constant attention to factors that are often unpredictable. Weather can shift flowering cycles. Parasites such as varroa mites can weaken or destroy colonies. Changes in land use can reduce available forage. Each of these variables affects how bees behave and whether a hive can survive.

Beekeepers have to notice subtle changes and respond quickly. A drop in activity, a change in brood patterns or a decline in honey production can all signal larger issues. Managing those problems requires balance. Beekeepers must help the bees without disrupting the natural systems they rely on.

“It can be really dangerous for the bees if it gets super warm in winter,” said Patti Chlepas. “The bees might think it is spring and start laying their brood without having all the resources they need to survive.”

That kind of unpredictability has become more common. Warmer winters, shifting seasons and increased exposure to chemicals all affect how and when bees can function. Because of this, bees are often seen as indicators of environmental health. When colonies struggle, it usually points to broader issues in the ecosystem.

Birdsong Farms also works to make those connections clearer to the public.

The farm participates in outreach efforts tied to Virginia Tech, helping bring scientific concepts into more accessible settings. Through demonstrations and conversations, they connect everyday experiences, like buying honey, to larger ideas about ecology and agriculture.

One of the most visible examples is Hokie BugFest, where students and families can interact with insects in an educational environment. For Birdsong, events like BugFest are an opportunity to change perception.

Bees, they say, are often misunderstood. For many people, they are something to avoid or just write off. In reality, they are essential to systems that support food production, plant life and biodiversity.

Pollinators like honeybees and native bee species are responsible for the reproduction of a wide range of flowering plants. Many crops, including fruits, vegetables and nuts, depend on pollination to produce food. Without it, yields decline and food systems become less stable. Bees also support the growth of plants that stabilize soil, regulate water and provide habitat for other species. Entire ecosystems rely on the plants bees help reproduce.

“Even smaller apiaries can make a huge difference,” said Jay Wade, a certified golf course superintendent. “They can help increase local pollination and give bees safe managed spaces to reproduce and thrive.”

Additionally, bees pollinate foods rich in vitamins A and C, folate and antioxidants. Reduced access to pollinated foods can contribute to weakened immunity, higher rates of chronic malnutrition and greater risk of infectious diseases.

Many medicinal plants fall into this category, and without bees, their populations will shrink over time. This will lead to a decrease in genetic diversity, making medicinal compounds less potent and harder to source. This can cause problems not only for herbal medicine, but also for biomedical research and future drug discovery.

What makes that role more significant is how vulnerable bees are to change. Temperature shifts, pesticide use and habitat loss all affect their ability to survive. Because of that, their health often reflects the condition of the environment around them.

For Birdsong Farms, that reality reinforces the importance of both their beekeeping practices and their outreach.

What started as a small project has grown into something with wider impact. Through their work, Deano and Patti are not just producing honey. They are maintaining a system, one that connects land, insects and people in ways that are easy to overlook.

“We understand the impact bees and our farm have on the environment and our community, which is why we want to keep it going long after we are gone.”

Many people assume their individual efforts would not have an overall impact, but they can make a meaningful difference. Plant flowers that bees can use. Choose native flowering plants whenever possible. Plant flowers that bloom at different times of the year. Good examples of flowers you can plant in Virginia include cornflowers, milkweed, bee balm, asters, lavender and sunflowers.  Of course, supporting local farms and apiaries is a great way to help too.

By Timothy Kwon, science and technology reporter

Virginia Tech’s Innovation and Partnerships team helps researchers move inventions from campus labs toward patents, licenses and startups. Photo by Timothy Kwon

On Virginia Tech’s campus, an invention can begin with a professor testing a new chemical compound, an engineering team building a prototype or a graduate student trying to solve a problem no one has answered yet.

At first, the work may look small. It may sit on a lab bench, appear in a data set or exist as a rough prototype. But if the idea has the potential to become useful beyond campus, it can begin a longer journey through invention disclosure, patent protection, licensing and sometimes even a startup company.

That journey is the focus of Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, known as VTIP, and the university’s Innovation and Partnerships team. Their work sits between university research and the outside world, helping faculty and student researchers turn discoveries into products, services or companies that can reach people beyond Blacksburg.

Virginia Tech ranked No. 59 on the National Academy of Inventors’ 2025 Top 100 U.S. Universities list, with 36 granted U.S. utility patents, according to a March 19 Virginia Tech News article. The ranking gives a broader measure of the research and invention activity happening across campus, but the people behind the process say patents are only one step in moving university ideas toward public use.

Grant Brewer, executive director of LICENSE and president of VTIP, helps manage that transition.

“Taking research at Virginia Tech that has occurred, turning it into a patent, and then working with either a group of people who want to form a company or an existing company to turn that patent into a technology that helps society,” Brewer said.

Brewer said his office handles technology documents, patents, agreements and negotiations. In simple terms, VTIP helps give companies or startups permission to use patented Virginia Tech ideas through licensing agreements. Those agreements can bring money back to the university, inventors and departments, while also helping fund future patents.

For Brewer, a patent is not a trophy. It is a tool.

Grant Brewer. Photo courtesy of Virginia Tech

“A patent is a way to make an asset or an idea tangible and make that idea and that asset investable so that it can turn into something that can help people.” — Grant Brewer

That distinction matters because universities do not usually manufacture products themselves. A chemistry professor may discover a possible medical compound, but the university is not going to build a pharmaceutical company around it alone. An engineering team may design a battery technology, but the university is not going to mass-produce batteries.

Instead, the university often needs a company, startup or industry partner willing to invest time, money and risk into development. Patents can give those partners the protection they need to make that investment.

Brewer used the example of a possible cancer drug. A lab may develop a compound that shows promise, but turning that compound into an approved therapy can require years of research, clinical trials, manufacturing and federal approval. Without a patent, a company may have little reason to spend that money because another competitor could copy the compound after the expensive work is finished.

“We file patents because we want our research to end up impacting people in a positive way,” Brewer said.

Virginia Tech’s inventions come from many areas. Brewer said the university sees patents from engineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, life sciences, medical devices, drugs and drug delivery. The work can connect to major companies, startups or local products people might recognize in Blacksburg.

Some examples are highly technical. Others are easier to spot. Brewer pointed to Hokie Lager, a Virginia Tech-branded beer created through a deal involving a recipe from the food science program and a local brewery. He also mentioned battery technologies, biodegradable feminine hygiene products, cancer therapies, wheat and soybean varieties, pork industry vaccines and exoskeletons for workers who perform repetitive heavy lifting.

Those examples show the range of innovation at Virginia Tech, but Brewer said the road from research to product is rarely simple.

“The biggest challenge is the stage of development,” Brewer said. “You can have an idea and that’s great. And then you can even get some money and test your idea in a laboratory and find out that your idea works. But then there’s a long, long way from testing your idea in a laboratory and finding out that it works to having a product package label sitting on a shelf in a store.”

That gap can create tension between researchers and companies. Faculty members may spend years developing an idea, building prototypes, publishing papers and filing patents. A company may still see the same invention as early-stage and risky.

Brewer compared the work of managing university patents to watching a little league baseball game and trying to identify which player might eventually make it to the major leagues.

“They’re showing potential,” Brewer said. “There’s all the signs that they could be great. But they’re years away from making it to the big show.”

That is where LAUNCH: Center for New Ventures becomes important. While LICENSE and VTIP help with patents and licensing, LAUNCH focuses on helping university researchers understand how an invention could become a company or reach a market.

Andrea Hill, associate director of LAUNCH, said many researchers have deep technical knowledge but may not have business development experience. LAUNCH helps fill that gap through funding, training, mentorship, market research and connections to industry or federal partners.

One key resource is the proof-of-concept grant. Hill said the program supported 12 teams this year, each with innovations that had been disclosed with the hope of patent protection and future commercialization.

“The proof-of-concept grant provides $50,000 to the team to help support those entrepreneurial endeavors,” Hill said. “Because the researchers have worked on the technical side, their entire career, and their entire collegiate career as well. And so, they don’t have the business development expertise or acumen in most cases.”

The money can help researchers explore the commercial side of their work. That can include training, market research or support from experts who help them decide whether the invention is best suited for a startup, license or another path into industry.

Hill said strong technology is not enough. Researchers also need to understand whether customers want the product, whether the timing is right and whether the invention can be manufactured.

Andrea Hill. Photo courtesy of Virginia Tech

“Even though you have a great technology, it doesn’t mean that someone’s going to want to buy it.” — Andrea Hill

That is why customer discovery is a major part of the process. Through programs such as NSF I-Corps, researchers can speak with potential customers, competitors and industry contacts to better understand the market. Those conversations can reveal whether the invention solves a problem people are willing to pay to fix.

Hill said one of the biggest gaps between an invention and a product is learning what customers actually need.

“I think the biggest challenge is finding that need and understanding what the customers, what the consumers want,” Hill said.

Manufacturing can be another obstacle. A prototype that works in a lab may not be easy to produce at scale. If a company cannot make the product efficiently, the invention may struggle to survive outside the university.

“You might have the greatest invention since sliced bread, but if you can’t manufacture it easily, you can’t make money or monetize it,” Hill said.

One example Hill pointed to was Fermi Energy, a battery technology startup connected to former Virginia Tech researcher Feng Lin and one of his graduate students. Hill said Lin developed battery technologies at Virginia Tech, disclosed multiple innovations and later formed Fermi Energy after going through university commercialization support.

According to Hill, the company used several resources, including a proof-of-concept grant, support from the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation and the Presidential Innovation Postdoc Fellowship Program. The postdoc period became unusually short after the team received a Department of Energy Small Business Innovation Research award, allowing the postdoc to move full time into the startup.

“It was a nice success story,” Hill said. “They’re doing well. They moved the company to Boston. And they’re continually growing.”

For Hill, success is not only measured by revenue or investment. Money matters because startups need resources to survive, but she said the larger goal is to move university research into places where it can help society.

“Getting those out of the lab and into industry so that they can benefit society, in my opinion, is a success,” Hill said.

That idea connects Brewer’s work with patents to Hill’s work with startups. A patent can protect an idea, but protection alone does not create impact. A startup can bring energy and focus to a discovery, but it still needs customers, funding and a product people can use.

Together, the process shows how complicated innovation can be. It is not just a researcher having a breakthrough. It is also paperwork, legal protection, business strategy, mentorship, market testing and risk.

For students and researchers, the path can be difficult because the skills needed in the lab are not always the same skills needed in the market. A scientist may know how to develop a compound, design a battery or build a sensor, but may not know how to talk to customers, pitch investors or form a company.

That is the gap Virginia Tech’s innovation system is trying to bridge.

In the end, the work is not only about patents sitting in a database. It is about whether ideas developed at a public research university can become cancer therapies, safer food systems, cleaner batteries, better medical devices or products people encounter in daily life.

The process can take years, and many inventions will not make it to the market. But for Brewer, the possibility of impact is the reason to keep filing patents, negotiating licenses and helping researchers move forward.

For Hill, the same idea drives the startup side of the process. Success begins when research leaves the lab and finds a use beyond campus.

At Virginia Tech, innovation does not end when an experiment works. That is often where the harder story begins.

by Owyn Dawyot, Josie Sellers, Sarah Schrader, and Hayden McNeal. Health & Wellness Beat

Along with his research team, Dr. Mike Zhang has been working on a vaccine to help prevent opioid addiction. Stemming from his work with nicotine addiction vaccines, Dr. Zhang believes this might help kick addictions or future addictions to opioids.

By Jacob Jenkins, Timothy Kwon & Hunter Grove, science & technology reporters

A mix of man-made and natural impacts has caused the Chesapeake Bay to sink. New research has discovered that although changes may not be much to the eye, they have dramatic impacts for the region. We sit with Virginia Tech Geosciences faculty Sarah Stamps as she discusses her research tools, experience, and input on the matter.

By Timothy Kwon, science and technology reporter

Virginia Tech’s Prototyping Studio gives students access to tools like 3D printers and fabrication equipment to turn ideas into real projects. This story looks at how the space supports creativity, experimentation, and hands-on learning across campus.