WVUToday

Brian Anderson has received $1.2 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding from the U.S. Department of Energy for a three-year research project aimed at finding ways to use the energy beneath our feet _ geothermal energy, that is, stored in the hot rocks beneath the surface of the earth.

The work of West Virginia University's Hota Ganga-Rao was highlighted by a new national initiative _ ScienceWorksForUS _ as an example of a significant research initiative made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded a $1 million grant to West Virginia University's biometrics researchers. The grant will be used by WVU's Center for Identification Technology Research to create the Transition Readiness Assessment Center, which will -- in collaboration with others -- help translate the innovative technologies researchers are developing into real-world systems that government agencies can use in law enforcement, national security, defense and other applications.

Anand Sunny Narayanan may be the first person in his family to attend college in the United States, but he has no small ambitions. The West Virginia University McNair Scholar aims to some day work for NASA researching new devices and tools that allow for easy monitoring of astronauts' health vitals while on expeditions. Narayanan, a WVU junior double majoring in mechanical engineering and biology, is getting a head start on his future career through research for a chemotherapy drug detection biosensor using small strands of DNA. He recently presented his research at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in Phoenix.

A West Virginia University engineering research center will receive $136,000 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding from the U.S. Department of Energy for a project that will use the skills of faculty and students to help improve energy efficiency in the region?s manufacturing facilities.

Feruz Ganikhanov, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Physics at WVU, plans to advance the medical industry with an alternative diagnostics tool to track biological cell processes that could lead to earlier detection of disease.

West Virginia University researchers have been leading the flock in trying to find a better way to figure out the ages of birds. Now, a doctoral student has earned national recognition for her contribution to the project.

A rebound from job losses in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle won't occur for another year, according to the latest forecast for the region, issued today by West Virginia University's College of Business and Economics. The Eastern Panhandle Region includes Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan counties.

West Virginia University's Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions (CAFEE) will soon take its transportable vehicle emissions laboratory to Washington D.C., to test the emissions from several different types of alternative-fuel buses that are part of that city's transit fleet.

West Virginia is often the front line in the battle between competing concerns of economic development and environmental protection. A new research center at West Virginia University will try to help reconcile those seemingly incompatible interests.