Eberly News

Tagged with Physics
Researchers across the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University have moved quickly to donate personal protective equipment from their laboratories to healthcare workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Putting gloves into the right hands

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WVU researchers donate protective gear to COVID-19 efforts

West Virginia University Professor of Physics Paul Cassak is among a select group of scientists tackling grand challenges in space in a new series from the American Geophysical Union. In celebration of AGU’s centennial, the special series explores major research discoveries over the last century and where research is still needed to address fundamental questions in our understanding of Earth and the solar system. Cassak, in collaboration with University of Bergen physicist Michael Hesse, highlighted the past, present and future of magnetic reconnection research in a February 2020 article.

Celebrating the past, present and future of space science

Eberly News /

Professor of Physics Paul Cassak is among a select group of scientists tackling grand challenges in space in a new series from the American Geophysical Union.

For more than a decade, astronomers across the globe have wrestled with the perplexities of fast radio bursts — intense, unexplained cosmic flashes of energy, light years away, that pop for mere milliseconds. Despite the hundreds of records of these enigmatic sources, researchers have only pinpointed the precise location of four such bursts. Now there’s a fifth, detected by a team of international scientists that includes West Virginia University researchers. The finding, which relied on eight telescopes spanning locations from the United Kingdom to China, was published Monday (Jan. 6) in Nature.

In a nearby galaxy, a fast radio burst unravels more questions than answers

Eberly News /

For more than a decade, astronomers across the globe have wrestled with the perplexities of fast radio bursts — intense, unexplained cosmic flashes of energy, light years away, that pop for mere milliseconds. 

West Virginia University researchers have helped discover the most massive neutron star to date, a breakthrough uncovered through the Green Bank Telescope in Pocahontas County. The neutron star, called J0740+6620, is a rapidly spinning pulsar that packs 2.17 times the mass of the sun (which is 333,000 times the mass of the Earth) into a sphere only 20-30 kilometers, or about 15 miles, across. This measurement approaches the limits of how massive and compact a single object can become without crushing itself down into a black hole.

WVU astronomers help detect the most massive neutron star ever measured

Eberly News /

West Virginia University researchers have helped discover the most massive neutron star to date, a breakthrough uncovered through the Green Bank Telescope in Pocahontas County.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—When Alec Neu arrived at West Virginia University as a journalism major in 2013, he never expected to end up at NASA. Now, with a degree in journalism and work experience in Greece under his belt, Neu has his sights set on the sky as he returns to WVU for a second degree. Neu, a physics major, spent the summer at NASA conducting heliophysics research, which is all about how the sun affects the solar system. He was part of a team developing a new method for predicting coronal mass ejections’ effects on Earth, or large blasting events on the sun that release light and energy.

An unexpected path to discovery

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When Alec Neu arrived at West Virginia University as a journalism major in 2013, he never expected to end up at NASA. 

2019 Ruby Fellows

WVU names 2019 class of Ruby Fellows

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Seven students pursuing doctoral degrees at  West Virginia University are receiving funding through the Ruby Scholars Graduate Fellows Program. Lauryn Alexander, Heather Baldwin, Elaine Christman, John Hansen, Emily Hughes, Alyssa Stonebraker and Nicholas Winch have been named to the eighth class of fellows. 

The National Science Foundation has formally decided to keep open the Green Bank Observatory, a partner of West Virginia University and a key site for the University’s astronomy research. On Friday (July 26), the NSF signed a “Record of Decision” for the observatory, located in Green Bank in Pocahontas County, which acknowledges that the facility will remain open with respect to a plan that sees reduced funding from the federal agency but formed partnerships with new stakeholders. In recent years, the NSF have discussed divesting the facility.

Green Bank Observatory, site for breakthrough WVU research and teaching, to remain open

Eberly News /

The National Science Foundation has formally decided to keep open the Green Bank Observatory, a partner of West Virginia University and a key site for the University’s astronomy research.

The Department of Physics and Astronomy at West Virginia University received a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to fund the new Center for Kinetic Experiment, Theory and Integrated Computation (KINETIC) Physics.

WVU physicists receive $2 million for new plasma physics center

Eberly News /

The Department of Physics and Astronomy at West Virginia University received a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to fund the new Center for Kinetic Experiment, Theory and Integrated Computation Physics.

Earl Scime

Award-winning researcher Earl Scime named interim dean of WVU’s Statler College

Eberly News /

Earl Scime has been named interim dean of the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, the Office of the Provost announced today. Scime will move into the role on July 1. 

Thirty Eberly College students selected for Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

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Through West Virginia University’s Office of Undergraduate Research, students can participate in research as early as their first semester on campus. Every semester, many Eberly College students take advantage of the resources provided by this office to match with faculty conducting research in their disciplines. The Summer Undergraduate Research Experience is an eight-week summer undergraduate research experience for students interested in careers in research or graduate school
within their disciplines. The selected students receive a stipend and conduct research full-time during those eight weeks. Congratulations to the 30 Eberly College students participating in SURE for 2019!