Eberly News

Tagged with Research
West Virginia University physicists are uncovering secrets of the sun’s turbulent surface in the lab. 

A new study featured on the cover of the March 2021 issue of Physics of Plasmas is the first published research from WVU’s PHASMA experiment in the Center for Kinetic Experiment, Theory and Integrated Computation Physics. 

The PHAse Space MApping experiment, or PHASMA, is a one-of-a-kind facility that uses lasers to measure the speeds and positions of individual ions and electrons in a plasma. The combination of position and velocity information is called phase space.

Uncovering secrets of the sun

WVU physicists are uncovering secrets of the sun’s turbulent surface in the lab.

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

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



There’s more to the American women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s than burning bras and Gloria Steinem. 

Jessica Wilkerson, associate professor of history at West Virginia University, wants to change that narrative to its truest form: The fight for women’s rights was built on the shoulders of women of color, the working class and women in the south and Appalachia – not just white-collar urbanites.

Writing the history of feminism in the South and Appalachia

There’s more to the American women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s than burning bras and Gloria Steinem. Jessica Wilkerson, associate professor of history, wants to change that narrative to its truest form: The fight for women’s rights was built on the shoulders of women of color, the working class and women in the south and Appalachia – not just white-collar urbanites.

A new online mathematics tutoring program is helping students navigate virtual learning. 

After months of transition and adaptation, mathematics tutoring coordinators Nicole Infante and Lori Ogden recognized an opportunity to establish a fully online tutoring program for undergraduates.

Overcoming barriers to mathematics learning

A new online mathematics tutoring program at West Virginia University is helping students navigate virtual learning.

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

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

Thanks to facility renovations, research innovations and in-class lessons, West Virginia University’s C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry has received the nation’s top undergraduate safety program award in chemistry – for a second time.

The American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Health and Safety’s SafetyStratus College and University Health and Safety Award recognizes an outstanding comprehensive laboratory safety program in higher education undergraduate study.

Inspect to protect

Thanks to facility renovations, research innovations and in-class lessons, WVU's C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry has received the nation’s top undergraduate safety program award in chemistry – for a second time.

Michelle Bester

Laser focused

Growing up in rural South Africa, Michelle Bester always aspired to pursue graduate school internationally. Today, she is living that dream as a geography student studying how remote sensing technology can help prevent and control wildfires.

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

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

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

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.

Closed religious communities such as the Amish are high-risk populations for the spread of both infectious diseases and public health misinformation, according to sociologists from West Virginia University who are working with data from Amish and Mennonite settlements to understand the COVID-19-related beliefs and behaviors prevalent within their communities.

WVU researchers study high-risk populations in low-tech communities

Closed religious communities such as the Amish are high-risk populations for the spread of both infectious diseases and public health misinformation, according to sociologists from West Virginia University who are working with data from Amish and Mennonite settlements to understand the COVID-19-related beliefs and behaviors prevalent within their communities.