Jacob Bumgarner

Jacob Bumgarner, from Charleston, will graduate with a bachelor of music in piano performance. He has performed as a pianist in the WVU Steinway Campaign Concert, WVU Jazz Combos and WVU Symphony Orchestra, among several other performances.

He also volunteers his time to WVU Medicine Children’s PICU and as a pianist at The Village of Heritage Point.

Bumgarner had been an aspiring musician; however, a life-changing hand injuring in 2017 inspired him to find a new career as a neuroscientist. A pianist-turned-neuroscientist, Bumgarner’s college career is marked by a blend of musical performances, self-employment, internship experience and undergraduate research.

He has also served as a student intern with West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, a volunteer with the WVU Auditory Development and Connectomics Lab, an ambassador for the WVU College of Creative Arts, a tutor in the Music Theory Department and a self-employed freelance accompanist and piano studio owner.

He is especially proud of two of his academic musical achievements: As a rising sophomore he competed with doctoral students and tied for first place in the young artist category of The Intersection of Classical and Jazz Music competition, a competition judged by Juilliard professor Julian Martin.

And in 2018, he was selected as one of four winners of the WVU Young Artist Concerto Competition where he performed the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 10 as a soloist with the West Virginia University Orchestra.

In 2018, Bumgarner performed undergraduate research on metastatic brain cancer through the WVU Health Sciences Center Office of Research and Graduate Education and has recently joined the WVU Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program as a University Provost Fellow to pursue his Ph.D. in neuroscience. Here, he will continue to study how exposure to light at night can disrupt circadian rhythms and, in turn, harm human and environmental health.

One of his most memorable and rewarding experiences was the opportunity to host fundraising events held in Charleston and Washington, D.C., where he performed for prominent beneficiaries to raise money for the All-Steinway School campaign.

He reports not only were the fundraisers great moments in his professional development, but also a great way to give back to the program that has afforded him so many wonderful opportunities to grow by providing students with the best pianos possible for their study of music.

Bumgarner is a recipient of the Anna Lee Porter Riddle Scholarship, Valary Canady Language Scholarship and four-year recipient of the Ida Cope Tait Music Endowed.

Ultimately, he plans to obtain his Ph.D. and become a research scientist in academia.