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The prevalence of gender diversity is largely unknown, especially in rural areas. To fill that knowledge gap, researchers at WVU with colleagues at other institutions surveyed junior high and high school students in rural Appalachia about their gender identity. More than 7% of young people surveyed shared a gender identity that did not fully align with the sex they were assigned at birth, findings that appear in JAMA Pediatrics.

The return of FallFest highlights a packed Welcome Week at West Virginia University which begins Thursday, Aug. 11, and continues through the start of the fall semester Wednesday, Aug. 17. New events include a pool party for all students at the Student Rec Center Aug. 13 and a service project to benefit the West Virginia United Way Collaborative during Monday Night Lights for first-year students Aug. 15.

West Virginia University is stepping up to support residents affected by flooding in eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia with the restart of Dollars for Disaster, a campus-wide disaster response effort organized through the Center for Community Engagement.

Clearcutting and wildfires destroyed the red spruce which were once the dominant tree species in West Virginia. Today, only 10% of the state’s red spruce coverage remains and it faces a new threat in climate change. West Virginia University researchers are working toward restoring some of the original tree habitat by studying the long-term effects of climate change on red spruce and the surrounding environment.

West Virginia University researchers are exploring the potential for certain grasses planted on reclaimed mine land to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. A grant will support the two-year study at WVU’s West Virginia Water Research Institute.

West Virginia University’s FirstGen Initiatives are being awarded the First-gen Forward designation. The designation comes from the Center for First-Generation Student Success. With this designation, WVU has access to additional professional development opportunities, community-building experiences, research and resources to bolster WVU’s first-gen programming.

Driven by a shared passion for scientific discovery, four promising researchers pursuing doctoral degrees at West Virginia University are receiving funding from the Ruby Scholars Graduate Fellows Program to support their studies. This year’s Ruby Fellows are Cameron Wilson, Ashley Martsen, Courtney Glenn and Quinn Hopen.