infostations

West Virginia University President Gordon Gee welcomes students, faculty and staff to campus for the start of the fall 2022 semester with a special message and video.

Being sedentary is a cardiovascular-disease risk factor that’s distinct from not getting enough exercise. Prolonged bouts of sitting can cause cardiovascular harm, even in healthy people. Bethany Barone Gibbs, a researcher with the WVU School of Public Health, is studying how sedentary behavior and pregnancy may raise a woman’s cardiovascular-disease risk.

Dedication to bettering the Mountain State earned six West Virginia residents the Hazel Ruby McQuain Graduate Scholarship helping them to continue graduate study in their chosen fields. The scholarship program, administered by the West Virginia University Office of Graduate Education and Life, honors the legacy of its late namesake — Hazel Ruby McQuain.

For the first time since 2019, West Virginia University’s free welcome-back-to-campus concert for students returns Tuesday, Aug. 16. The concert starts at 5:45 p.m. on the Evansdale Rec Fields adjacent to the Student Rec Center. Gates open at 5 p.m.

West Virginia University scientists have developed a way for extraplanetary rovers to use nonvisual information to maneuver over treacherous terrain. This will help to prevent future losses of expensive equipment like that of the Martian exploration rover Spirit, which ceased communications after its wheels became trapped in invisibly shifting sands in 2010.

The National Science Foundation is awarding a $1.6 million grant to Kevin Daly and collaborator Andrew Dacks, both biology professors in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, to study how the brain coordinates movement and sensory function in animals. Its practical applications could shed light on human disease and human performance.

For the fiscal year from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022, WVU Foundation data shows 20,206 donors – including 9,360 alumni – made 39,347 gifts totaling $213.8 million. This total is second only to $270.1 million donated in fiscal year 2021. The gifts will benefit education, health care and prosperity to make a positive impact across the Mountain State and beyond for years to come.

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.

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.