Expert Pitches

An onslaught of news from the aftermath of mass shootings to that of hurricanes leaves some Americans in a despondent funk, while others absorb what has happened and move on, according to a West Virginia University expert, who goes on to say that human beings who have been exposed to such events over time, even when they are not a part of them, are on a “spectrum” from experiencing vicarious traumatization to desensitization.

According to three West Virginia University experts who research different aspects of climate change, the need for mitigation in hurricane-prone areas is growing, as ocean temperatures rise and hurricanes increase in frequency and intensity. And one of those experts says we have “centuries” of climate change ahead, even if we start preventive measures immediately.

As the U.S. Senate takes up another bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, a West Virginia University health policy expert says states will lose more than $80 billion annually in 2026, a precursor to a combined loss of $300 billion the next year, as the Medicaid expansion is rolled back. Insurance market protections for people with pre-existing conditions and a strict per capita cap on Medicaid payments are also part of the package, according to WVU’s Simon Haeder.

As the most powerful storm to ever hit the Atlantic -- Hurricane Irma -- heads toward Florida, emergency management officials are relying on historical data in an attempt to predict the extent of the flooding the state might face. A West Virginia University civil and environmental engineering expert has developed a dynamic model that can predict flooding from rainfall providing a more accurate picture of what could happen across a region.

Even as diversity on college campuses becomes more important, life for immigrants who came to the U.S. as children with their undocumented parents became more precarious Tuesday as President Donald Trump announced that he would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, according to West Virginia University experts.

The Great American Eclipse is both a once-in-a-lifetime experience and dangerous to viewers without proper protection. West Virginia University experts encourage learning about the science that predicts eclipses, and remind viewers that damage from looking directly at the sun, even while partially eclipsed can cause potentially irreversible eye damage in less than a second.

President Donald Trump was briefed today about the opioid crisis in the U.S., after last week receiving a report from the Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis calling opioid addiction a “state of emergency.” West Virginia University experts say that opioid addiction is a problem both medical and social, and the University has a multi-pronged approach to helping addicts and their families deal with their struggle. In November 2015, the WVU Health Sciences Vice President Clay Marsh convened the Substance Abuse Task Force to facilitate cross-disciplinary efforts and to develop and sustain approaches to clinical care, education, training, research, outreach and data collection.

Although West Virginia University does not consider race as part of its admissions criteria, the University is committed to a diverse campus as part of every student’s overall education experience. WVU experts say the Trump Administration’s exploration of possible law suits against higher education institutions’ affirmative action policies is a threat to that experience.

Recent U. S. Supreme Court decisions show the full effect of Justice Neil Gorsuch on the bench may not be immediately noticeable because of his philosophical alignment with his predecessor, Antonin Scalia. But history may look on his tenure as a sign of the Republican party’s tour de force at a pivotal time, according to a West Virginia University legal expert.

Taxpayer-funded repairs of a church-owned preschool playground may sound like a small matter, but to one West Virginia University legal expert, the U. S. Supreme Court decision that allows the funding in Missouri signals a shift in how the high court views separation of church and state.