The Caribbean Center for Education and Research (CCER) in Punta Cana provides a base for Virginia Tech faculty to conduct research as well as instruct students on biodiversity, environmental and social sustainability, global issues in natural resources, and hotel and tourism management. Faculty and students take advantage of the PUNTACANA Ecological Foundation and the surrounding area to study the natural resources of the area. Below are samples of the programs that have taken place at CCER in Punta Cana.

1. Undergraduate Semester Program: Each year Virginia Tech conducts a Fall and Spring undergraduate semester program. Students explore Dominican culture, natural history, Spanish language, and undertake community service projects. Students participate in extended field trips throughout the island, visiting the cities of Santo Domingo and Santiago, national parks, and numerous sustainable development projects. Dr. Jerry Via is the Director of this program.
   
   
2. Dominican 4-H Program: Each year, teens and group leaders from Virginia 4-H create a two-day 4-H Environmental Day Camp program jointly with Dominican teens. The Dominican teens and the 4-H teens conduct service projects including delivering school supplies, painting and landscaping a poor elementary school, and working with local Dominican citizens to landscape the Rural Clinic in Verón.
   
   
3. Engineers without Borders (EWB): In 2007, Virginia Tech formed a chapter of Engineers Without Borders and implemented its first project at the Rural Clinic of Verón. Working collaboratively with the Ecological Foundation, Punta Cana Foundation and the Punta Cana-Bávaro Rotary Club, EWB designed and installed a water purification system at the clinic. The water system was a major improvement at the clinic, which provides free primary health care for over 80 patients a day, and for the public elementary school across the street which now also utilizes the water system.
   
   
4. Land Use Analysis and Urban Growth in Verón: This course has conducted several detailed land-use surveys and housing censuses in order to document the changes in population and economic condition of the working community of Verón. This survey, conducted in 2005 and 2007, represented one of the first detailed studies of the community, composed largely of migratory and newly arrived immigrants from the rest of the island of Hispaniola (including Haiti). All data was entered into a Geographic Information System (GIS) in order to share it with local government and development entities in the area and influence the planning decisions of the region.
   
   
5. Senior Design Project, Biological Systems Engineering: Seniors in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering use their final projects to design solutions to different challenges facing the resort. In 2007, the Seniors designed additions to the existing waste water treatment facility at Puntacana Resort & Club to include a constructed wetland and an aquaculture operation, where water would be further purified for use in irrigation and unique products could be developed as well. In 2008, students designed a compost system that could be used to convert tons of organic waste produced at the resort on a daily basis into compost.