Eberly News

West Virginia University has recognized five outstanding seniors as the 2024 Mountaineers of Distinction, celebrating their academic achievements and dedication to volunteerism. These students, selected from over 70 nominees, include Haley Bockius, Laasya Chennuru, Mary G. Roush, Christopher J. Smith, and Dakota Swiger. Their contributions to service, leadership, and research, alongside their exemplary academic performance, earned them recognition during the WVU vs. Baylor football game. The Mountaineers of Distinction honor highlights students making significant impacts both on campus and within the community.

A West Virginia University biologist is studying why some animals can regenerate while others cannot and has identified the genes that play a role in the process. 

Christopher Arnold, assistant professor of biology at the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, will explore how genes establishing animal body plans — the structure of organs and tissues — also set the stage for regenerative abilities. 

His research could provide insight into human development and disease, leading to enhanced understanding of factors underlying tissue regeneration and inspiring novel approaches to improving human health.

Researchers at West Virginia University are working to ensure small landowners and local communities, instead of large corporations, profit from the ability of Central Appalachian forests to remove greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Natural history collections provide irreplaceable resources in many arenas, both scientific and societal. These collections, including the WVU Herbarium, provide information on biodiversity, ecosystems, species distributions, climate change, and most recently, genomes. 

Faculty from the Eberly College gathered earlier this month to participate in the inaugural Foundational STEM Collaborative Symposium, a daylong event that provided many opportunities for collaboration, team building and peer learning.

Three outstanding West Virginia University students have been named winners of the 2024 Goldwater Scholarship, the nation’s premier undergraduate scholarship in mathematics, engineering and the natural sciences. Easton Cahill, Rachel King and Christopher Smith are among the 438 scholars selected nationwide and join the ranks of 47 Mountaineers selected before them. Each scholarship provides as much as $7,500 annually for up to two years of undergraduate study.

As Jayla Boyd and Lillian Floyd would describe it, they were in uncharted territory when they arrived on the West Virginia University campus for Brain Camp. By the end of the week, the soon-to-be high school seniors had discovered the complex world of neuroscience and were hooked.

Every year, students from across Eberly College are selected as Outstanding Seniors and Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistants. Eberly Scholars are also chosen annually for a monetary award to help offset the cost of their education as they work to achieve their academic goals. Read about all three groups below.

Five exceptionally talented incoming West Virginia University freshmen whose academic interests span the fields of humanities, medicine and science are eager to use their curiosity, creativity and problem-solving skills to generate new ideas and innovative solutions for a better future as the 2024-25 WVU Foundation Scholars, the highest academic scholarship the University awards.

Drylands in the western United States are currently in the grips of a 23-year “megadrought,” and one West Virginia University researcher is working to gain a better understanding of this extreme climate event.