Centers

WVU Center for Excellence in STEM Education

If you are interested in pursuing a research project in STEM Education, the Center for Excellence in STEM Education’s resources may be invaluable to your funding proposal. Dedicated to enhancing STEM education in West Virginia, the Center is launching cutting edge programs, forging key partnerships and offering networking opportunities for West Virginia K-12 youth, higher ed students and current educators.

The Center is also working to build a network of faculty, researchers, and scholars focused on STEM education. The benefits of becoming a member of the STEM Education Research Network are substantial, including:

Professional development opportunities.
Research collaboration among STEM Education Research Network members.

Notifications for STEM education grant opportunities.
Support in grant proposal writing and development to maximize broader impacts.
Proposal review, including having external evaluators available through WVUCE-STEM and assistance in managing the external advisory/review process.
Additional post-award support.
Assistance in faculty in programmatic dissemination of research findings.

If you are interested in learning more about how the Center may contribute to your research – or how you may contribute to the center – please contact Director Gay Stewart (gbstewart@mail.wvu.edu) for more information.

Center for Resilient Communities

The Center for Resilient Communities develops participatory action research and strategies for social transformation in areas such as food justice, food systems change and building community wealth. Utilizing a collaborative action lab approach that engages students, community leaders and faculty the CRC seeks to address some of the most challenging problems facing West Virginia through action research experiments. Recent work includes “The Listening Project: Stories of Resilience in West Virginia,” which sought to create a public archive of the collective experience of the COVID-19 pandemic in the state and "Growing Capacity" which focuses on cooperative agribusiness development in West Virginia. Interested in collaborating with the center on your next proposal? Contact Bradley Wilson ( brwilson@mail.wvu.edu) for more information.

WVU Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology

The Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology addresses cutting-edge astrophysics problems that can be solved most effectively through interdisciplinary collaboration across physics, astronomy, math, computer science, and engineering. The Center specializes in gravitational wave astrophysics, the interstellar medium (ISM), cosmology, multi-messenger astronomy, Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), neutron stars, and radio instrumentation. The Center collaborates closely with the Green Bank Observatory on research and education projects, and several Center researchers are part of a team that recently received support from the NSF for the renewal of the NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center. If you are interested in collaborating with the Center through research or outreach programs or learning more about the resources the Center offers faculty, please contact Holly Legleiter ( hlegleiter@mail.wvu.edu).

WVU Center for Kinetic Plasma Physics

The mission of the WVU Center for Kinetic Experimental, Theoretical, and Integrated Computational (KINETIC) Plasma Physics is “to collaboratively solve cutting-edge kinetic-scale physics problems in magnetized plasmas using disparate and complementary approaches.” The scientists of the Center for KINETIC Plasma Physics welcome external users to submit proposals for scientific campaigns. While not funded as a national user facility, users can apply to carry out projects with the experimental and computational resources of the Center. Please contact Earl Scime for more information.

WVU Survey Research Center

The Survey Research Center at West Virginia University is a resource for members of the WVU community who are conducting or would like to conduct a survey. We offer expertise and experience through consultation and assistance with the design, delivery, and analysis of surveys. Reestablished in 2019, the Survey Research Center has piloted the West Virginia Social Survey. The WVSS serves to gather data from every county in West Virginia and targets West Virginia's most prevalent social problems. If you need assistance with a survey, contact survey@mail.wvu.edu for more information.

Core Arboretum

WVU Core Arboretum is an outdoor facility dedicated to supporting the research, teaching, and service efforts of WVU by providing resources and opportunities for the study and enjoyment of plants, animals, and natural processes. The Arboretum also provides important recreational opportunities and pedestrian connections for WVU and Morgantown. Their resources and opportunities are shared freely with the public as well as the WVU community.

Local and regional experts on a variety of nature-related subjects give public talks at the Arboretum each summer as part of the WVU Core Arboretum Nature Connection Series. If you are interested in ways to share your work, the WVU Arboretum can help contribute to the broader impacts of your research by engaging with a public audience. Please contact Zach Fowler for more information.

WVU Herbarium

The West Virginia University Herbarium, the largest facility of its kind in the state, contains about 185,000 mounted and cataloged vascular plant specimens and approximately 26,000 bryophyte and lichen specimens.

The Herbarium contains the only record in existence of hundreds of localities of rare and endangered plants. Its collections are the basis of ongoing research by the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy and others on the documentation of these species. A program has been developed, involving about 56 institutions, to exchange specimens with other herbaria to strengthen and expand the holdings.

Scientific plant specimens are vitally important for scientific research, as they provide a record of the presence, distribution and morphology of a plant through time; the Herbarium is a library of such specimens, providing an invaluable catalogue of West Virginia flora. It is actively involved in research in botany, ecology and conservation. If you are interested in the ways in which the Herbarium may benefit your research, please contact Donna I. Ford-Werntz for further information.

Genomics Core Facility

The West Virginia University Genomics Core Facility is a non-profit, full-service resource open to all. They are located on the downtown campus in the Life Sciences Building and offer Next Generation Sequencing, Sanger Sequencing, Bioinformatics, and more. The facility also has equipment available for self-service use. In addition to the services and equipment offered at WVU, the facility has a collaborative relationship with the Genomics Core Facility at Marshall University.

The Genomics Core Facility at WVU supports both educational and industrial research, including writing letters of support for grant applications. Questions about the facility's resources, and how they may be of help in your next grant application, should be directed to Ryan Percifield.

West Virginia GIS Technical Center

The West Virginia GIS Technical Center provides statewide GIS services to advance the State's Spatial Data Infrastructure. A few of these services include the State Data Clearinghouse, a GIS People Directory, and the MapWV.gov web mapping portal. Housed in the WVU Department of Geology and Geography, the Center has received funding from (list some agencies here) and has staff available to (what would be possible services personnel could provide) on grant proposals and research projects. If you would like to learn more, contact Aaron Maxwell, Director or Kurt Donaldson, Senior Project Manager.

Interdisciplinary Research Collaborative for a Safe and Healthy Society

The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences' Interdisciplinary Research Collaborative for a Safe and Healthy Society aims to fully utilize the resources and expertise of the faculty, students and staff across WVU to address three substantive areas:

Substance use prevention and treatment, drug policy and national trends of drug use and distribution.
Social determinants of health, health/health care policy and medical sociology.
Crime and its effects on communities and families, crime prevention and policy.

The Collaborative hopes to build an infrastructure that can support and sustain research efforts by building a broad base of research evidence. Findings will be disseminated locally and nationally, providing data and research that is accessible and relevant to the needs of local communities and state and federal agencies. The Collaborative can assist the development of grant proposals by providing access to a network of interdisciplinary researchers who have relevant substantive and methodological expertise to address societal needs relative to safety and health. If you are interested in getting involved or learning more about the Interdisciplinary Collaborative, please contact Duncan Lorimer for more information.

West Virginia Water Research Institute

Under the federal Clean Water Act, the U.S. Geological Survey supports a water research institute or center in each U.S state and territory. Since 1967, the West Virginia Water Research Institute (WVWRI) at West Virginia University has served the people of the State by developing solutions to significant environmental and economic development issues and disseminating the results to the public, legislators and government officials.

WVWRI develops water research priorities with oversight and guidance from the West Virginia Advisory Committee for Water Research. By utilizing a collaborative team approach, WVWRI brings together the best expertise available to focus on exploring and implementing technologies to improve and protect the State's water resources quality and expand the understanding of threats and opportunities related to West Virginia's water resources. Major programs of WVWRI include:

Brownfields
Critical Materials
Energy
Outreach
Water

WVWRI frequently partners with research faculty to secure funding and build successful teams. If you are interested in learning more about how the WVWRI can contribute to your research goals, don't hesitate to contact WVWRI Associate Director Melissa O'Neal for more information.

Bridge Initiative for Science and Technology Policy, Leadership, and Communications

The Bridge Initiative for Science and Technology Policy, Leadership, and Communications makes important connections between science and policymaking. As an interface translating the expertise of WVU faculty to West Virginia’s national, state, and local policymakers, their work supports WVU’s critical land-grant mission to lead “transformation in West Virginia and the world through local, state and global engagement.” Recently, the initiative has developed a policymaker guide focused on the Waters of West Virginia. They are currently working with faculty members across campus on a study focusing on the opportunities for carbon dioxide removal and storage in West Virginia.

If you are interested in learning how the Bridge Initiative can help you increase the broader impacts of your research proposal, or if you would like to get involved, please contact Joan Centrella.

The Humanities Center at West Virginia University

The Humanities Center at West Virginia University cultivates critical humanistic inquiry through collaborative, interdisciplinary and publicly accessible scholarship. To accomplish this, the Center provides research grants, expertise, events, and programs to support WVU-based, visiting scholars and community affiliates as they produce new knowledge and demonstrate the value of humanistic scholarship for the common good of WVU and West Virginia citizens.

Learn more about the Humanities Center grant and fellowship opportunities or contact the Humanities Center for more information.

West Virginia & Regional History Center

The West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC) acquires, provides access to, and preserves information resources in all formats that elucidate the history and culture of West Virginia and the central Appalachian region. As the Special Collections library of WVU, the center works with materials that are rarer, more varied in format, and/or more comprehensive than the general libraries' materials.

Research Grants are offered to help defray expenses of scholars who must travel long distances and generally range from $500 to $1500. While applications to conduct research in all fields will be considered, current topics of special interest include:

West Virginia authors including Pearl S. Buck
Political and Congressional Papers
Civil War and West Virginia statehood movement
Minority Studies including Storer College Archives
West Virginia economic and labor history
Women’s Studies
West Virginia Labor history
Folklore and folk music

If you are looking for more information on WVRHC resources, please contact Assistant Director Lori Hostuttler .

The Office of Research Program Management

Do you need assistance managing your next research project, from planning to completion? If so, the Office of Research Program Management (ORPM) can provide a variety of project management services for projects here at West Virginia University and throughout the United States. The ORPM works with diverse partners to facilitate groundbreaking research in a number of fields, including national security, criminal justice, energy, health care, environmental science, education, and astronomy .

Current projects include acting as the liaison between the academic research community and the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS); assisting in the coordination of statewide wastewater testing to detect and analyze the presence of COVID-19; providing project management support to WVU’s portfolio of Critical Materials projects; helping revitalize communities impacted by the decline of the coal industry; and providing support for research on patient-centered outcomes involving Hepatitis-C, HIV, and opioid use.

If you are interested in how the ORPM may help with your project management process, please contact director Drew Bucy .

Research Center on Violence

Since 2014, the WVU Research Center on Violence has researched how to prevent and control violent behaviors. The center studies violence of various types, including gender-based violence, interpersonal violence, environmental violence, state-sponsored violence, and corporate violence against consumers and workers.

Current work includes research on violence against women in rural communities, as well as continually working to publish timely empirical, theoretical, and policy-relevant work in prominent scholarly outlets. If you are interested in collaborating with the center on a research proposal or are interested in how your work might intersect with the center, please contact Walter S. DeKeseredy.

Visit the Centers page for an up-to-date list of WVU-affiliated research resources.

West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute

The West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute (WVCTSI) is an academic home and catalyst for clinical and translational research that targets priority health areas including addiction and resulting emerging epidemics (such as hepatitis C), cancer, cardiovascular disease, and chronic lung disease. Participating faculty and clinicians across the state are provided with research resources that include biostatistics support, clinical data resources, pre-award support, professional development and trainings, access to a range of funding mechanisms, and community networks. If you are interested in learning more about how the WVCTSI can support your research efforts, please email Sarah Haymond to set up an initial consultation.

West Virginia University's Office of Health Services Research

West Virginia University's Office of Health Services Research (WVU OHSR) has a long-term history of working with state, regional, and national partners on chronic disease prevention and control, cancer prevention and control, health informatics, and quality of care improvement efforts. OHSR can assist with practice-based research, quality of care improvement efforts centered on use of clinical data, data analysis and visualization, survey research, program evaluation, and supporting clinical/community linkages for improvements in priority health outcomes. If you are interested in how the OHSR can help with your next proposal, please contact Dr. Adam Baus.

WVU Energy Institute

The Energy Institute’s mission is to make WVU a top-10 energy research university through investments in energy and energy-related research faculty, students, programs, and other capabilities the institute recognizes as drivers in renewed vitality, growth and opportunities for the state and Appalachian region. The Energy Institute is home to a variety of research, training, and outreach initiatives focusing on energy, water, and economic development, including the West Virginia Water Research Institute, Geothermal Energy, the Energy Institute Analytical Lab, the Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center, and the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium.

Partnering opportunities for natural and social scientists include carbon management, critical minerals, energy implications of economic redevelopment, community transitions and social justice, energy extraction, energy materials, environmental and land use impacts, policy and regulation, and more. If you are interested in working with the Energy Institute, check out their website, specifically the faculty partnering page, or contact Sam Taylor. To be added to the energy research faculty database for future opportunities, contact Tracy Novak. For email updates, faculty can register on the affiliates page.

WVU Art Museum

The Art Museum of West Virginia University explicitly embraces WVU’s land-grant mission of campus and community engagement through a robust slate of exhibitions, programs, and outreach initiatives. At its core is a collection of nearly 5,000 objects in diverse media with particular strengths in prints and works on paper (spanning from the 1500s to today), contemporary ceramics, and 19th and 20th century painting, in addition to smaller holdings of contemporary art, photography, sculpture, Asian and African art, and works by self-taught Appalachian artists. Exhibitions change every semester across two 2,500-square-foot galleries that feature both artworks from the collection and also traveling exhibitions from other institutions. If you are interested in how the Art Museum can serve your teaching and research interests, please contact Heather Harris, Ph.D, educational programs manager.

West Virginia Prevention Research Center

T he CDC-funded West Virginia Prevention Research Center (WVPRC) seeks to transform public health policies and practice through community-engaged research and evaluation. Its research is focused on the underlying behaviors and social conditions related to substance use (especially tobacco and opioids), promoting healthy lifestyles, and fostering youth and community resilience. The WVPRC's 5-year project, the Integrated Community Engagement (ICE) Collaborative, engages local schools and coalitions to implement locally relevant interventions to address the social determinants of adolescent substance use.

Other projects include evaluator for WV's Project AWARE to improve he behavioral and mental health of WV's students; evaluator for the WV Bureau for Public Health's CDC-funded project to address the prevention and management of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke; the College Student Transition Study; among others. The Center works collaboratively with faculty and students across WVU campuses, is guided by a statewide Community Partnership Board, and is developing a youth-led Youth Advisory Board. The Center provides training for students across campus who are interested in public health and community-engaged research. If you would like to learn more about the center, please contact Dr. Geri A. Dino.

Open Access Research Publishing

If you are interested in ways to maximize the impact of your research, Open Access (OA) Research is a viable strategy to publicly disseminate your work to a wider audience. OA refers to free, immediate, permanent, online access to digital full-text scientific and scholarly material, primarily research articles published in peer-reviewed journals. There are limited copyright and licensing restrictions on open-access articles, meaning that anyone with Internet access may read, download, copy, and/or distribute them. The WVU Libraries have established an Open Access Author Fund (OAAF) for scholarly content published by WVU authors and welcomes you to request fees for open access publications as a last resort when no other source of funding is available. In addition, WVU Libraries has just signed their first Read & Publish Agreement with Cambridge University Press. This agreement allows WVU faculty to publish OA articles in Cambridge University Press journals with no article processing charges. For more information about Open Access Research, please contact Marian Armour-Gemmen.