West Virginia University graduate students provide valuable research and teaching services to the West Virginia University campus and the greater Morgantown community. Ten graduate students have been selected to receive scholarships that will defray the costs of their education and promote the dissemination of their research to a broader audience.
The MLK Scholarship Award and the MLK Achievement Award will be presented at the breakfast. The scholarship is awarded annually to a WVU student who demonstrates an active interest and meaningful involvement in areas of human rights, civil rights and social justice. The Achievement Award is given to the nominee from West Virginia who best exemplifies working to fulfill King’s commitment. Following the breakfast, volunteers will travel to complete a variety of service projects in Morgantown.
Anne Lofaso, a West Virginia University professor who specializes in labor law, believes the partial government shutdown violates the 5th and 13th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution because many employees are being compelled to work without pay.
Three West Virginia University fashion, dress and merchandising students were recently named 2019 YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund recipients – an honor that includes a $5,000 scholarship as well as networking and internship opportunities. The merit scholarships are awarded based on the completion of a case study project, a personal essay, an interview with a scholarship fund ambassador and an applicant’s GPA.
Biotechnology provides opportunities to restore native species that are threatened by insect pest or pathogen outbreaks. In some cases the resistant trees may be intentionally released into the wild where they could proliferate with minimal human intervention, thus raising issues that are fundamentally different from those encountered in agricultural biotechnology. More research is needed on the ability of the existing tree population to adapt and efforts to enhance resistance with biotechnology should be integrated with breeding programs for the target trees.
Several West Virginia University faculty, administrators and staff members will be available to comment on issues addressed by Gov. Jim Justice in his third State of the State address Wednesday (Jan. 9). These experts will be available after the speech and throughout the 84th legislative session.
In a continuing series of events focused on the state’s most pressing public health issues, the West Virginia University School of Public Health will host a panel discussion about harm reduction programs Thursday, Jan. 10 at 11 a.m.
Nearly 50 years after the passage of the federal Coal Mine Safety and Health Act, significant occupational dangers for coal miners remain. As the anniversary of the Sago Mine Disaster approaches, and on the heels of the 50th anniversary of the Farmington Mine Disaster, Michael McCawley from the West Virginia University School of Public Health notes black lung cases are on the rise and silicosis diagnoses persist. His research has been inspired by these and other mine tragedies in an effort to make coal mines safe and healthy places to work.
The cultural stigma related to mental illness and those seeking mental health services is pervasive. Suicide tends to rate as the second or third highest cause of death for student-athletes, according to Robert Hilliard, a West Virginia University doctoral student. Hilliard is using an NCAA grant to examine the role that stigma plays in student-athletes’ attitudes toward seeking help for mental health services.
West Virginia University physics and astronomy professors are part of a national Department of Energy research team that actively shape research policy in their field. Earl Scime notes that while thermonuclear energy is the major focus of plasma physics, there are other benefits from the research. Scime is one of seven scientists who will organize the first phase of a strategic plan to further plasma physics research in a new facility for testing materials to be used in fusion reactors.