Eberly News

With senior citizens making up nearly 20% of West Virginia’s population, one WVU student has committed her career to helping them transition from skilled nursing facilities back into the community. During her field placement at Mapleshire Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Master of Social Work student Heather Beeseck recognized that older clients needed access to more support services, especially when they were only temporarily in a skilled nursing facility for rehabilitation.

With 1 in 14 West Virginia youth being raised by grandparents, one WVU student is committed to ensuring they have the resources they need to support their families. Master of Social Work student Mariah Martin is an intern with Healthy Grandfamilies, an eight-week training program from the Children’s Home Society for grandparents voluntarily raising their grandchildren.

The Eberly College has named recipients for its 2019-2020 Outstanding Teacher, Researcher and Service awards.

New neuroscience research has the potential to improve technologies used by the human body’s five senses, ranging from hearing aids to cameras. Gary Marsat, an assistant professor of neuroscience in the Department of Biology, has received the National Science Foundation’s prestigious CAREER Award to study sensory systems, which process all the signals from the eyes, ears, mouth, nose and skin and delivers that information to the brain.

A new chemical compound created by researchers at WVU is lighting the way for renewable energy. The compound is a photosensitizer, meaning it promotes chemical reactions in the presence of light. It has many potential applications for improving the efficiency of modern technologies ranging from electricity-producing solar panels to cell phones. The study, published March 16 in Nature Chemistry, was conducted by researchers in Assistant Professor of Chemistry Carsten Milsmann’s lab with support from his National Science Foundation CAREER Award.

Since transferring to WVU in fall 2017, Connecticut native Déja Fleury has found a home-away-from-home in Morgantown. Nearly three years later, the social work major is helping the local library feel more like home for its patrons.

WVU researchers donate protective gear to COVID-19 efforts

For teenagers with cystic fibrosis, maintaining a healthy weight can be a daily struggle. Any given day can include two to three hours of medical treatments, eating the caloric equivalent of a daily Thanksgiving meal to maintain nutrients and dealing with the stigmas of body image. A WVU psychology student is trying to make life easier for those teens. Park Ridge, Illinois, native Kristine Durkin, a fourth-year clinical psychology doctoral student, is conducting a study to identify the factors that contribute to meeting their dietary recommendations.

John J. "Jack" Renton, PhD

Serving in the Army National Guard has inspired one West Virginia University student to pursue a career combating stigmas surrounding mental health. Green Bank native Dustin Dilley, a first-year Master of Social Work student, first learned about the social work profession while completing the National Guard’s basic leader course in South Carolina.