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The space economy is on track to be valued at a trillion dollars by the end of 2030, according to Piyush Mehta, Wayne and Kathy Richards Faculty Fellow and assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at West Virginia University. Yet space assets – equipment that is placed in space such as navigation, weather and communication satellites that serve our society daily – are threatened by space debris. 

Despite efforts to promote recycling and reuse of plastic materials, the plastic problem continues to be a global problem. West Virginia University engineers hope to debottleneck the remaining challenges for recycling of single-use plastic packaging by upcycling them into petrochemicals.

A West Virginia University graduate student has been awarded the University Transportation Centers Annual Outstanding Student of the Year for research in collecting and harvesting traffic and pavement data to find intelligent solutions for sustainable transportation infrastructure management.

A new report by the National Science Foundation ranked the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources 87th in research expenditures among 411 engineering programs surveyed.

Jason Gross, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and associate chair for research in the Statler College of Engineering Mineral Resources at West Virginia University, has been named interim chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, effective January 1, 2022.

Engineers at West Virginia University are propelling exploration forward by creating control software for a group of aerial robots (aerobots) that will survey the atmosphere of Venus, the second planet from the sun.

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites like carbon fiber and fiberglass are opening new design opportunities for engineers. FRP composites will replace many traditional materials like steel and aluminum in the coming years, according to Hota GangaRao, Maurice A. and JoAnn Wadsworth Distinguished Professor in the Wadsworth Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Constructed Facilities Center.

Drivers on winding West Virginia roads often encounter road damage caused by rockfalls, even if they aren’t present when the rocks tumble down the hillside. West Virginia University researchers hope to cut down on these events, as a pair of engineers have examined countermeasures considered useful in mitigating rockfalls, which can result in vehicle damage, traffic disruptions and injury or death to motorists.

Anurag Srivastava, professor and chairperson of the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering in the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University, has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical Engineers.

A graphics processing unit computer cluster called “Dolly Sods” will enable researchers throughout the state to accelerate computational research in fields such as drug development, interstellar phenomena, biometrics, material design and business logistics and management.