Research

A group of counties in eastern West Virginia has turned to West Virginia University to develop a strategic action plan for its future. WVU’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research will lead a team of expert organizations who will prepare the plan in an effort to promote economic development in West Virginia’s Potomac Highlands region. The plan will encompass Pendleton, Grant, Hampshire, Hardy and Mineral counties, which compose the Region 8 Planning and Development Council.

A West Virginia University student is using Appalachian forests to improve predictions of future climate change.

Dimitra Pyrialakou, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been named the inaugural Maurice Wadsworth Faculty Fellow in the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. Pyrialakou has initiated research on a project that assesses the efficiency and effectiveness of West Virginia’s rural transit systems through evaluations of peer transit agencies in the state in hopes of identifying opportunities for improvement.

Renowned West Virginia novelist Ann Pancake leads the list of honorary degree recipients when West Virginia University sends more than 4,450 graduates into the world the weekend of May 11-13 as commencement ceremonies take place in three venues for 13 colleges and schools. Of those graduates, 3,009 have earned their undergraduate degrees or certificates, 1,110 their master’s degrees and 360 have earned their doctorates.

Jesse Wozniak, assistant professor of sociology in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, is exploring whether a post-conflict Iraq, specifically the police force, can transition to a democracy.

A student from the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University was one of 60 students selected nationally by the Council on Undergraduate Research to showcase their work on Capitol Hill during the annual Posters on the Hill session, held April 17-18. Morgan Menke, an electrical engineering major from Ridgeley, was the sole student from West Virginia selected for the competitive event.

West Virginia University English professor Stephanie Foote has been named one of the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Fellows for her work related to cultural production in and around the Anthropocene, the geological epoch in which human activity has had a global effect on Earth’s climate and environment.

Edward Sabolsky, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Fernando Lima, assistant professor of chemical engineering, have been awarded the 2018 Faculty Award for Distinction in Mentoring Undergraduates in Research. Both awardees are faculty in the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.

West Virginia University infectious disease expert Judith Feinberg, M.D., will participate in a briefing for members of Congress and their staffs on Capitol Hill Tuesday (April 24), at noon in the Congressional Visitor Center. Feinberg is the vice chair of the HIV Medicine Association and co-leader of a federally-funded project to reduce the incidence of infectious diseases in communities hard-hit by the opioid crisis.

Building on the success of its undergraduate program, the West Virginia University Board of Governors has approved a graduate program in biomedical engineering. The program, which will award degrees at both the master’s and doctoral levels, will be offered in the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources starting in the fall semester of this year.