Research

West Virginia University geographers are linking the political and human rights issues at borders today to the legacies of foreign and domestic policy across the globe since World War I. Karen Culcasi and Cynthia Gorman, of the Department of Geology and Geography in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, have studied more than 100 years of international laws that have led, perhaps unintentionally, to the existing hostile climate for refugees.

Carla Brigandi, assistant professor at West Virginia University’s College of Education and Human Services, believes that the number of identified "gifted" students in West Virginia’s is not representative of the talent in our local communities. The real issue is that students with gifts and talents aren’t being identified as such.

Cells can’t text each other the way we can, but they can still communicate. WVU School of Medicine researcher David Klinke is studying one means of their communication: tiny “packets” of information called exosomes. He’s focusing on the exosomes that cancer cells release. Deciphering them may suggest new targets for cancer immunotherapies.

When samples from the Mars 2020 expedition eventually make their way to Earth, the scientists of tomorrow will have a Mountaineer to thank.

Treah Haggerty and Cara Sedney—researchers in the West Virginia University School of Medicine—are studying how a new West Virginia law has changed the way healthcare providers prescribe opioids. Working with the state’s Board of Pharmacy, they’re examining prescription practices before and after the law took effect on June 7, 2018, and pinpointing differences.

Armed with data from a new study raising alarms about the health of children in the Mountain State, a West Virginia University Extension Service program has mobilized to help families who want to make healthy lifestyle changes.

Affected chemical materials were removed from the Engineering Research Building Tuesday (Oct. 22) and normal operations resumed Thursday (Oct. 23) in the building. Students, faculty and staff in the ERB were sent home for the day (Tuesday, Oct. 22) as a precaution after a chemical accident inside one of the laboratories.

An international partnership is expanding a gateway of cross-campus collaboration while opening avenues for West Virginia University students to travel, conduct research and explore a global perspective.

Engineers in the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University have figured out exactly how to make electricity flow under our feet instead of above our heads.

Most research into young people’s drinking habits focuses on high school and college students, yet middle-schoolers are at a critical age for alcohol-abuse prevention. Alfgeir Kristjansson, an associate professor in the WVU School of Public Health, is studying two potential targets for preventing middle schoolers from using alcohol: caffeine consumption and sleep deprivation.