Eberly News

Tagged with Biology
Students from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences will celebrate Commencement on Saturday, May 15 as they graduate from West Virginia University, ready to take on the world. As Commencement is upon us, several of our Eberly College graduates reflect on their time at WVU and their plans for the future. Keep checking back through Friday, May 14 to meet all of our featured grads. Meet May 2021 biology grad Deionte Harilla-Gray.

Meet the May 2021 Grads: Deionte Harilla-Gray

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Meet May 2021 biology grad Deionte Harilla-Gray.

A West Virginia University biology student’s neuroscience research on zebrafish took her to Capitol Hill this week – virtually. Abreanne Andlinger, a Moundsville native, is among 60 students selected nationally by the Council on Undergraduate Research to participate in Posters on the Hill April 27-28.

WVU student selected to present research to U.S. Congress

Eberly News /

A West Virginia University biology student’s neuroscience research on zebrafish took her to Capitol Hill this week – virtually.

A West Virginia University biologist is working to cultivate a bumper crop of young scientists through the study of wild orchids—and the fungi they eat. As WVU’s latest National Science Foundation CAREER Award recipient, Assistant Professor of Biology Craig Barrett is teaming up with teachers in rural West Virginia high schools to develop student-led research projects. The projects will culminate in lesson plans accessible to high school students and teachers across the U.S., with an emphasis on closing the STEM skills and interest gap in the Mountain State. The projects will use parasitic orchids to study genomics, in particular how genomes evolve across space and time.

Helping new scientists bloom

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Biologist Craig Barrett is working to cultivate a bumper crop of young scientists through the study of wild orchids—and the fungi they eat.

While studying abroad in Nicaragua as an undergraduate student 10 years ago, Brooke Eastman observed the country’s long history of land grabbing and clashes between industries, immigrants and indigenous communities. While there have been recent efforts to restore the land, the conflicts continue. She witnessed how climate change impacts poor communities disproportionately and how both humans and the environment are simultaneously exploited. That motivated her to dedicate her career to uncovering climate change solutions. Now as a biology Ph.D. student at West Virginia University, Eastman studies how acid rain impacts forest health. She is committed to highlighting forests’ role in mitigating climate change.

Healing a wounded world

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Biology Ph.D. student Brooke Eastman studies how acid rain impacts forest health. She is committed to highlighting forests’ role in mitigating climate change.

In a time when most people are avoiding diseases like the plague, one West Virginia University biology student is pursuing them instead. Oxford, Pennsylvania, native Jessica Towey researches in Assistant Professor of Biology Tim Driscoll’s laboratory, which studies vector-borne infectious diseases spread to humans by arthropods—insects such as ticks, fleas and mosquitoes. Diseases spread this way account for nearly one-sixth of all infectious diseases worldwide.

In pursuit of pathogens

Eberly News /

In a time when most people are avoiding diseases like the plague, one biology student is pursuing them instead. Oxford, Pennsylvania, native Jessica Towey researches in Assistant Professor of Biology Tim Driscoll’s laboratory, which studies vector-borne infectious diseases spread to humans by arthropods—insects such as ticks, fleas and mosquitoes. Diseases spread this way account for nearly one-sixth of all infectious diseases worldwide.

Amaya Jernigan and Hunter Moore

Biology student is first Black woman elected WVU student government president

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The campaign for WVU Student Government Association leadership ended Wednesday evening (March 10) as the SGA Judicial Court certified Amaya Jernigan and Hunter Moore as president and vice president, respectively, for the 2021-22 academic year.

Under the quiet surface of near-stilled campuses over the past year, West Virginia University researchers, faculty and administrators have scrambled to learn more about COVID-19 and mitigate its spread, calculated how to teach online and hybrid classes and figured out how to better ensure people on those campuses could remain safe from the virulent disease that has killed more than 500,000 U. S. citizens to date.

Lessons from the pandemic: What WVU has learned, accomplished and shared in the year of COVID-19

Eberly News /

Under the quiet surface of near-stilled campuses over the past year, WVU researchers, faculty and administrators have scrambled to learn more about COVID-19 and mitigate its spread, calculated how to teach online and hybrid classes and figured out how to better ensure people on those campuses could remain safe from the virulent disease that has killed more than 500,000 U. S. citizens to date.

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 Five West Virginia University graduates, representing three colleges, share stories about how they set their sights on a career in the sports industry and achieved their dreams. For some, it started with a focus on their family’s love of sports, for others, it began with an early interest in team sports. For Billy Bunting, Bill Eagan, Brandon Golden, Michael Pehanich and Keith Tandy, West Virginia University offered the perfect pathway to connect them with the career of their choice. From communications, to coaching, premium club member relations and sales, each of these Mountaineers play a leadership role with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers organization. Bunting, Eagan, Golden, Pehanich and Tandy face daily challenges to achieve goals and build meaningful relationships. As they discuss their experiences while in Morgantown, they reflect on why they chose WVU and how faculty guided them to excel, all the while developing a work ethic that remains with them today. Each one offers advice for current and recent grads on how to enter the professional sports field and, ultimately, land the dream job. Bunting, Eagan, Golden, Pehanich and Tandy reveal a love for learning that led to fulfilling their passion for sports. Finally, they share an ongoing connection to the WVU family that was fostered during their experience as Mountaineers.

Defining sports careers

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Five WVU alumni share how they followed their passion into professional sports while remembering their Mountaineer roots.

Four Eberly College students selected for WVU Foundation scholarships

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The Office of Graduate Education and Life has announced the recipients of the 2021 WVU Foundation Scholarship awards, including four from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. 

New research from West Virginia University biologists shows that trees around the world are consuming more carbon dioxide than previously reported, making forests even more important in regulating the Earth’s atmosphere and forever shift how we think about climate change. In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Professor Richard Thomas and alumnus Justin Mathias (BS Biology, ’13 and Ph.D. Biology, ’20) synthesized published tree ring studies. They found that increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the past century have caused an uptick in trees’ water-use efficiency, the ratio of carbon dioxide taken up by photosynthesis to the water lost by transpiration – the act of trees “breathing out” water vapor.

WVU biologists uncover forests' unexpected role in climate change

Eberly News /

New research from West Virginia University biologists shows that trees around the world are consuming more carbon dioxide than previously reported, making forests even more important in regulating the Earth’s atmosphere and forever shift how we think about climate change.