Virginia Commonwealth University

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality recently awarded researchers at VCU a $1.04 million grant to launch a coordinated initiative to reduce food waste across VCU and VCU Health. The grant will fund activities from June 2026 through June 2029.

At VCU and VCU Health, the transdisciplinary Food Rescue and Composting initiative will:

•Establish a coordinated, data-driven food system framework across academic and hospital operations.

• Deploy technological and behavioral interventions that minimize pre-consumer waste at academic and hospital dining venues.

• Expand engagement by dining service contractors (Aramark on VCU’s campuses and Morrison Healthcare for VCU Health) along with student volunteers in food rescue, redistribution and composting.

• Develop institutional policies and reporting systems that embed food waste mitigation into VCU’s long-term sustainability and carbon neutrality goals.

Read more: https://news.vcu.edu/article/new-initiative-to-reduce-food-waste-increase-composting-at-vcu-and-vcu-health

Up on the top floor of the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU’s Children’s Pavilion, the pediatric dental clinic buzzes with children’s voices and the whirring of machinery. It’s a safe space for clinical care and education.

For Benjamin Bloom, D.D.S., and Blake Carroll, D.D.S., it’s their new home base.

Bloom and Carroll graduated from VCU Dentistry with their Doctor of Dental Surgery degrees in May, but that doesn’t mean they are going to say goodbye to Richmond. Both will serve residencies in pediatric dentistry – a continuation of their clinical journeys at VCU.

Read more: https://news.vcu.edu/article/class-of-2026-new-dentistry-grads-land-residencies-at-childrens-hospital-of-richmond-at-vcuT