Every possible energy source exists within 100 miles of West Virginia University’s Morgantown campus, so it only makes sense that the University explores a variety of sustainable ways to heat and cool some 250 buildings on nearly 2,000 acres. And in keeping with its “Go First” motto, WVU could become home to the first geothermal direct-use heating and cooling system in the eastern United States.
Donna Hoylman Peduto, executive director of the West Virginia Public Education Collaborative and long-time educational policy expert, has been recognized by National Association of State Boards of Education for her commitment to translating public policy into practice to ensure that all West Virginia students have access to equal educational opportunities.
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a division of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded Ann Chester $270,000 for one year to help high-schoolers forge those “magical relationships” and consider a career in science, technology, engineering or math.
Prescription medications, including antidepressants and pain medications, can have various side effects and risks, and a West Virginia University researcher is examining whether patients understand the risks associated with driving. Robin Pollini, Associate Director of the WVU School of Public Health’s Injury Control Research Center, led a study on driver awareness of the potential effects of prescription medications.
Water is the driving force of all nature, but how do people react when an area begins to run out of water? Martina Angela Caretta, assistant professor of geography at West Virginia University, seeks to answer that question in a report she co-authored for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Colin Lopez, a recent West Virginia University graduate, has been named a semi-finalist for the Schwarzman Scholarship, a program that prepares global leaders through a one-year master’s program at Tsinghua University in Beijing, one of China’s most prestigious universities.
The mindfulness movement has grown in popularity over the past two decades, but research on its effectiveness is still catching up. According to a West Virginia University neuroscientist, increasing the precision of mindfulness research can multiply the potential benefits that meditation and similar practices impart.
West Virginia University Health Sciences has received a renewable grant of more than $100,000 to assist its effort in the fight against diabetes. The funding comes from the Stoy K. Whipkey and Twila O. Whipkey Fund, established as a result of the couple’s family-related experience with diabetes—their son’s diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes.
Alfgeir Kristjansson, an assistant professor in WVU’s School of Public Health, is studying data related to teen substance abuse in West Virginia. In 2016, his findings showed that at one high school in Wood County, 27 percent of students had smoked cigarettes, 41 percent had consumed alcohol and 20 percent had smoked marijuana.
West Virginia University’s new Inhalation Facility will be the home for research and collaborations that measure, identify and discover how the particles we breathe affect our health. Timothy Nurkiewicz, a microvascular physiologist in the School of Medicine’s Department of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, is the director of the new lab.