Eberly News

Articles for the month of January 2021

Maybe space is tight in your home and you share a remote office with your spouse. Or your partner asks you to step away from work to watch the children because they have an important call to jump on. Then you may wonder, ‘Well, what makes his/her job more important than mine!’ There have been no shortage of conflicts arising from the era of COVID-19, and that includes the challenges at home between married couples. In fact, the more a person felt that their spouse disrupted their daily routine, the more they viewed their relationship as turbulent, according to West Virginia University research. Kevin Knoster, a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Communication Studies, led a study examining 165 married individuals and how their partners interfered with their daily routines in April 2020, a month into the pandemic. Their findings are published in Communication Research Reports.

‘Honey, I’m home – all the time:’ Pandemic life for married couples can lead to sadness, anger

Eberly News /

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the more a person felt their spouse disrupted their daily routine, the more they viewed their relationship as turbulent, according to new research from the Department of Communication Studies.

Lupe Davidson

Eberly College names first associate dean for social justice, faculty development and innovation

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Maria del Guadalupe "Lupe" Davidson has been promoted to serve as associate dean for social justice, faculty development and innovation in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, effective Jan. 1, 2021. Davidson came to WVU in fall 2019 to serve as the Eberly College’s director and academic coordinator for social justice affairs and professor of women’s and gender studies. 

A West Virginia University astrophysicist has been named a 2020 Highly Cited Researcher by Web of Science, one of the world’s top research awards. Maura McLaughlin, the Eberly Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, is one of 123 scholars recognized in the category of space science for research from 2009 to 2019. During this time, she authored or co-authored 192 articles that have been cited more than 13,000 times. The highly anticipated annual list identifies researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their field based on how many times their work has been referenced by fellow researchers. The researchers are identified from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations in the Web of Science™ citation index.

WVU astrophysicist named international Highly Cited Researcher

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Astrophysicist Maura McLaughlin has been named a 2020 Highly Cited Researcher by Web of Science, one of the world’s top research awards.

Woman smiling in blue button-up shirt

Psychologist offers five tips for managing socio-political stress

Eberly News /

If you’re reeling from the news and the political strife in our country, you’re not alone. You may benefit from some coping methods suggested by the Department of Psychology in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University. Shari Steinman, assistant professor of clinical psychology who researches anxiety disorders, and two graduate students, Gabby Ponzini and Kelsey Evey, created five simple tips:

In data gathered and analyzed over 13 years, the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves Physics Frontiers Center, featuring researchers from the WVU Department of Physics and Astronomy, has found an intriguing low-frequency signal that may be attributable to gravitational waves.

NANOGrav finds possible ‘first hints’ of low-frequency gravitational wave background

Eberly News /

In data gathered and analyzed over 13 years, the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves Physics Frontiers Center, featuring researchers from the WVU Department of Physics and Astronomy, has found an intriguing low-frequency signal that may be attributable to gravitational waves.