National Park Service funds professor's research at two historical sites

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Park Service has awarded an $84,962 grant to Todd Lookingbill, assistant professor of geography and biology at the University of Richmond.

Lookingbill will use the award to conduct scientific research related to natural resource monitoring and inventory activities at Petersburg National Battlefield and Booker T. Washington National Monument, two sites administered by the park system.

The battlefield is a 2,650-acre park in Petersburg, Va., where the last major Civil War confrontation took place. Booker T. Washington National Monument in Franklin County, Va., marks the birthplace of one of the most influential African-American orators and political leaders of the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries. The 239-acre park maintains the feel of an 1850s middle-class tobacco farm.

Lookingbill and his team of researchers will evaluate the condition of the sites’ natural resources, assess human-induced or natural threats, and identify data gaps or research needs required for further evaluation. The team also will produce water quality, habitat and species reports and provide recommendations for preserving the sites.

Lookingbill holds a Ph.D. from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and has taught at Richmond since 2009.

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