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In a state that sees just 56 percent of its general population go to college, Health Sciences & Technology Academy at West Virginia University students reach the 99 percent mark and a 90 percent graduation rate. For the last 25 years, Ann Chester has led HSTA, a one-of-its-kind program which provides free secondary education opportunities to West Virginia high school students who otherwise would not have the option, or the means, to attend college.

The LaunchLab Network encourages students to present their innovative ideas, business models or inventions in up to three tightly-timed rounds to a panel of judges. The LaunchLab Network will award $2,500 prize money, which will help further fund the students’ concepts, product development or business ventures. The competition will be held Wednesday (March 27) at the WVU LaunchLab from 5 -7 p.m.

The conference aims to move people past their differences to find common ground using best practices from the design field to improve participants hearing, seeing and community building skills. Five colleges with WVU have teamed up to cohost the project, along with the city of Morgantown. The conference will be held at the WVU Creative Arts Center Thursday through Saturday (March 28-30).

Annual mining and reclamation symposium hosted by WVU and the West Virginia Mine Drainage Task Force. Researchers and experts will present on the latest regulations and practices pertaining to acid mine drainage, surface and underground mining, and land reclamation techniques.

The Office of Graduate Education and Life will host a slate of events during the week of March 25th to celebrate National Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week. The celebration begins Monday at four locations—the Mountainlair, the College of Law, Health Sciences Center and Engineering Sciences Building—with a cake cutting ceremony. Other highlights include self-care workshops, Family Movie Night, and a social event on Saturday evening to close out the week.

As the Environmental Working Group releases its “Dirty Dozen” list of fruits and vegetables that are high in pesticide residue, a West Virginia University expert says highest concentration of many pesticides is on the surface of the fruit or vegetable and washing the produce can greatly reduce the risk of exposure to chemicals. Plant pathologist James Kotcon said the risk of eliminating fruits and vegetables from your daily diet is greater than the harm that might be caused from ingesting pesticides.

Wildfire expert Toddi Steelman and Mamie Parker, principal of Ma Parker Associates and former assistant director of fisheries and habitat conservation for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will speak March 26-27 during separate seminars at the WVU Davis College. The events precede the University's Spring Academic Media Day which will focus on climate change from numerous research angles.

A unique aspect of the medical education program at WVU is that students earn their white clinician coats at the end of their second year of education rather than the onset. The transition from basic sciences to clinical care is about more than the coat – it’s a symbol of their future as healers and care providers. The ceremony stresses the importance of the doctor-patient relationship and the relevance of the white coat as a cloak of compassion.

The WVU Extension Service will break ground on the 6,000-square-foot Annette S. Boggs Educational Center at WVU Jackson’s Mill March 28 at 11:30 a.m. This education center will expand educational and outreach opportunities for children throughout West Virginia, including hands-on STEM activities and programming.

Representatives from all three WVU campuses—Morgantown, Beckley and Keyser—will host an Ask Us Anything event from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday (March 19) at the Marriott Town Center in Charleston.