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Graduate Education

Acclaimed WVU astrophysicist elected to elite National Academy of Sciences, a first for the University

Maura McLaughlin, West Virginia University Eberly Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy, has been selected as a new member of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors in the scientific world. “Professor McLaughlin’s election signifies the continued growth of WVU as one of America’s great research universities,” WVU Vice President for Research Fred King said.

Five WVU students named prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellows

Five West Virginia University students have joined an elite group of researchers who’ve been awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, a program aimed at supporting graduate education in STEM-based fields. They are Austin Braniff, Kara Cunningham, Courtney Glenn, Ashley Martsen-Poulin and Megan Weaver.

WVU Alzheimer’s disease study focuses on broken connections

West Virginia University neuroscientists are looking into why people with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease can remember events from decades ago but cannot recall something that happened in the past few hours. Their ongoing study indicates the issue could have to do with the vulnerability of certain synaptic connections, the places where neurons meet to communicate.

Hoylman family support spurs innovation at WVU Cancer Institute

Don Hoylman and his wife, Marcella, first began giving to the WVU Cancer Institute in the 1980s. Their giving escalated after Hoylman became a patient himself and culminated with a transformational leadership donation made through his trust in 2018. Following his passing three years later at the age of 91, the Hoylman family’s generosity continues to spur innovation at the WVU Cancer Institute.

WVU psychologist ‘reverse engineers’ slot machines to better understand compulsive gambling

A West Virginia University researcher is studying slot machines to determine what makes them a potentially addictive form of gambling. To do so, she will spend the next two years reverse engineering certain structural characteristics of the machines to find out what makes them an immersive product. Her research is supported by the International Center for Responsible Gaming.