Courtesy of Creative Ability Development

A children's improvisational music group from Rochester, N.Y., will perform a concert Jan. 17 in Blacksburg.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency recently awarded a total of $1.6 million to fire departments throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region as part of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program.

The Draper Volunteer Fire Department received $35,150 for operations and safety.

Overall, the state of Virginia received nearly $705,000 in this round of funding.

-- The Roanoke Times

Group from Chinese university to visit Radford

On the first day of the Chinese New Year, a delegation from Shanghai Normal University will begin a four-day stay at Radford University, celebrating and demonstrating Chinese art.

Three faculty members and 12 students from the art department at Shanghai Normal University will conduct calligraphy demonstrations from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 26-29 in the Bondurant Center for the Arts, 1129 E. Main St. in Radford.

The RU Art Museum in the Bondurant Center will host a reception featuring calligraphy and watercolor from Shanghai Normal University from 5 to 7 p.m. Jan. 26. That's the first day of year 4707, the Year of the Ox on the Chinese lunar calendar that dates to 2698 B.C.

Shanghai Normal is a 54-year-old university with more than 39,000 students and exchange programs with 182 universities in 25 countries.

For more information, contact Alison Pack at apack2@radford.edu.

-- Tim Thornton

Tech researcher studies effect of pipes on taste

Andrea Dietrich, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, is conducting research focused on determining which pipes are to blame for odd-tasting tap water.

Her research group studies how different plumbing materials affect the odor and taste of drinking water. She includes a panel of trained human "testers" to assess what she describes as "water aesthetics."

Her goal is to have an aesthetic assessment included as one of the tools used to evaluate materials in contact with water, according to a news release. Existing assessments evaluate only the chemical and biological safety of water, but consumers want water that is palatable, as well as safe.

Plastic is increasingly used nowadays; however, different polymers seem to either interact with the chemicals used to disinfect the water or trap unpleasant odors that form during the extrusion process; even the surface lining of the pipe itself can oxidize and infuse tap water with a characteristic smell, the release said.

The National Science Foundation sponsored Dietrich's research project. She and her research team treated purified water with the usual disinfectants found in tap water. They let the samples sit in various types of polymer pipes for three days. Then they asked a commissioned panel to evaluate the water as they would a glass of wine.

Among the materials tested, chlorinated polyvinyl chloride ranked as the polymer least likely to give drinking water an offensive odor.

-- The Roanoke Times

Children's musical group to perform in Blacksburg

An improvisational music group of children and teenagers from ages 6 to 18 from Rochester, N.Y., will perform a concert Jan. 17 in Blacksburg.

The Southern Tour Group of the Kanack School of Music will offer a workshop (open to students and teachers, adults and children, playing violin, viola, cello and piano) from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. Jan. 17.

That will be followed by a public concert from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church on Shadow Lake Road in Blacksburg.

The workshop/concert fee is $60, and attending the concert only is $10 for adults and $5 for children, according to the event's organizer, Lisa Liske-Doorandish with Community Cello Works.

The group's mentor, Alice Kay Kanack, was called "The mother of Mozart" by international music and education figure Sinichi Suzuki, referring to her work to integrate creativity into music.

-- The Roanoke Times