Eberly News

West Virginia University students pursuing careers in geoscience and energy engineering will have access to industry-leading professional software thanks to a $26.8 million gift from Rock Flow Dynamics.

The in-kind gift allows students and faculty at the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources and the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences to use tNavigator, a state-of-the-art reservoir modeling and simulation platform created by Rock Flow Dynamics.

Tyler Hickey said he believes West Virginia could be the future of energy. The Indiana native and graduate of Indiana University Southeast came to  West Virginia University to pursue a graduate degree in geology on the advice of a professor who was a University graduate.

Amy Hessl, a WVU geography professor, is exploring how tree rings reveal past extreme space weather, with support from the National Science Foundation. Using tree ring records that document historic increases in atmospheric radiocarbon from rare "Miyake events" — massive solar energetic particle events that can disrupt satellite communication — Hessl studies how such storms could impact modern technology.

Photo credit: Science.org

A West Virginia University researcher says Tuesday’s (July 23) surprise hydrothermal explosion at Yellowstone National Park’s Biscuit Basin doesn’t mean a larger eruption of the Yellowstone Supervolcano is imminent. The explosion, captured on video by park visitors, launched debris into the air and damaged the boardwalk, but no one was injured.

Ohio native Dan Billman has always been science-minded and had a fascination with rocks. Growing up on Lake Erie furthered his interest in rock formations, but it was a family friend and freshwater biologist who inspired Billman to pursue a career in geology.

Scientists have long debated the respiratory workings of sea scorpions, but a new discovery by a WVU geologist concludes that these largely aquatic extinct arthropods breathed air on land.