The National Academy of Engineering has identified providing access to clean water, managing the nitrogen cycle, and improving urban infrastructure as three of their 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st century.
The Bell Lab at VT focuses on the development of resilient best management practices that inform decision-making and policies within the water-energy-food nexus. Specifically, our research investigates the efficacy of and biogeochemical processes underlying ecologically engineered technologies, including treatment wetlands and subsurface bioreactors, to remediate urban and agricultural pollutants.
FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS
Virginia Tech Center for Advanced Innovation in Agriculture (CAIA)
Funding period: 2025 – 2026.
Advancing aquaponics workforce development through sociotechnical games.
PI: Bell, N.L. Co-PIs: Bhadra Haines, M., Polys, N., Engelke, J., Sajadi, S., Dusci, J.
Virginia Sea Grant
Funding period: 2024 – 2026.
Investigation of traditional and innovative stormwater best management practices to reduce. contaminants of emerging concern in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.
PI: Bell, N.L. Co-PIs: Xia, K., Sample, D., Stout, W.
Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS)
Funding period: 2024 – 2026.
Evaluating the Impact of Saline Water Usage on the Quality of Fruits and Vegetables in Aquaponic Systems.
PI: Dusci, J. Co-PIs: Bell, N.L. and Feng, Y.
Virginia Tech Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost
Funding Period: 2024.
Learning Landscape Laboratory: Destination Area 2.0 (Phase I).
PI: Engelke, J. Co-PIs: Bell, N.L., Hession, W.C., Thompson, T.W., Powers, M., Rippy, M., Bagchi, R., Kiechle, M., Rosenberger, J., Douglas, S., Muldoon, K.
Appalachian Regional Commission
Funding period: 2024 – 2025.
A Twenty-Year Review: Revisiting the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Funding Needs and Gaps in the Appalachian Region.
PI: Thompson-Spain, A. Co-PIs: Riggs, E., El-Khattabi, A.R., Ihlo, C., McMillan, T., Nolan, J., Jackson, M. Krometis, L., Cohen, A., Bell, N.L.
Virginia Tech Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS)
Funding period: 2024 – 2025.
Expanding the Aquaponics Industry in Virginia: Collaboration for Climate-Smart Agriculture Growth.
PI: Bell, N.L. Co-PIs: Kuhn, D., Feng, Y., Sun, T., Batarseh, F., van Senten, J., South, K., Romano, N., Dusci, J.
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National Science Foundation – Coastlines and People
Funding period: 2021 – 2026.
Focused CoPe: Supporting Environmental Justice in Connected Coastal Communities through a Regional Approach to Collaborative Community Science.
PI: Moysey, S. Co-PIs: O’Driscoll, M., Arora, P., Bell, N.L. (2021 – 2023), Petersen-Perlman, J.
North Carolina Department of Justice – Environmental Enhancement Grant
Funding period: 2023 – 2025.
Mitigating Nutrient Loads from a CAFO in the Cape Fear River Basin.
PI: Iverson, G. Co-PIs: O’Driscoll, M., Hoben, J.., Bell, N.L., Humphrey, C.
National Science Foundation – IUSE GEOPAths
Funding period: 2021 – 2024.
GP-UP: Strengthening the Geoscience Workforce by Scaffolding Community Outreach and Research Experiences (SCORE) through WaterCorps.
PI: Moysey, S.M. Co-PIs: O’Driscoll, M., Horsman, E., Bell, N.L., Petersen-Perlman, J.
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University of North Carolina Research Opportunities Initiative
Funding period: 2021 – 2024.
Enhancing Sustainable Water Treatment while Adding Value to Aquatic Systems.
PI: Bell, N.L. Co-PIs: Field, E., Hvastkovs, E., Lee, J., Etheridge, J.R., Hoben, J.P., D’Anna, L., Hall, S.
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NC Sea Grant and NC Water Resources Research Institute
Funding period: 2021 – 2022.
Hybrid Constructed Wetlands to Further Reduce Nitrogen and Phosphorus Loads from
Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants.
PI: Bell, N.L. Co-PI: Manning, J.
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ECU Faculty Senate Teaching Grants Program
Funding period: 2021 – 2022.
Campus as a living laboratory for green stormwater infrastructure.
PI: Bell, N.L. Co-PIs: Etheridge, R., Humphrey, C., Iverson, G.
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University of North Carolina Policy Collaboratory
Funding period: 2020 – 2021.
Nutrient Loading from Onsite Wastewater Systems in the Falls Lake Watershed.
PI: O’Driscoll, M. Co-PIs: Humphrey, C., Iverson, G., Bell, N.L., Hoben, J.
United States Dept. of Agriculture – National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Funding period: 2018 – 2021.
Potential of Woody Substrate-based Bioreactors to Remediate Plant Pathogens in Agricultural Runoff for Onsite Water Reuse.
Co-PIs: Bell, N.L. and White, S.A.
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American Ecological Engineering Society Annual Meeting in Burlington, VT
June 2-4, 2026
American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting in Toronto, Ontario
July 13-16, 2025
UPCOMING EVENTS
