MAY 2023

CNX Resources Corporation Chief Excellence Officer Olayemi Akinkugbe, a 2005 graduate of West Virginia University, was the speaker for the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources 2023 Commencement Ceremony. The ceremony was held on Friday, May 12, at 3:30 p.m., at the WVU Coliseum.

Far from her hometown in Yaounde, Cameroon, senior biomedical engineering student Sonia-Frida Ndifon found a sense of purpose and belonging at the Statler College. She wasted no time in getting involved on campus, making an impact in more than five student organizations. After graduation, she will pursue a medical degree at WVU's School of Medicine.

Callyn Zeigler, a Charleston native, was drawn to WVU because of its unique traditions and the Statler College’s reputation for having a strong sense of community. The future is bright for Callyn, a dedicated and inspiring student who will soon join Northrop Grumman as an associate software engineer.

During his first year at the Statler College, Matteo Cerasoli joined the WVU Experimental Rocketry Club and Amateur Radio Club. His experience with these organizations earned him an internship at NASA and a full-time engineering position at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.

An early interest in robotics led Michael Lough to the Statler College. When he arrived, he partnered with WVU Robotics to launch its first VEX U team and was instrumental in bringing the first Vex Robotics Competition to campus.

Cam Kellar is an engineering student who has taken his problem-solving and critical-thinking skills to the rock-climbing world. Soon he will move to Las Vegas to join Kimley-Horn as a civil engineering analyst and to continue his climbing pursuits.

For those who were unable to attend the ceremony the video of the entire ceremony can be found at Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources - 3:30pm

Qingqing Huang, assistant professor of mining engineering at the Statler College, received two grants totaling $518,500 to study the extraction of critical minerals from different sources. The funding will assist researchers at WVU and partner institutions as they work to discover new low-cost and carbon negative methods for critical mineral recovery.

Researchers at WVU are preparing high school seniors and college students to harness the power of ChatGPT, the popular artificial intelligence chatbot, through coding while addressing the platform’s potential shortcomings.

The upcoming launch of the SMARTER center in the WVU Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources will direct $1.5 million in federal funding toward the development of mobility solutions for transportation challenges faced by rural residents. Beginning this summer, the center will position the state to begin taking advantage of cutting-edge technologies like self-driving cars within the next decade, according to lead researcher and assistant professor Kakan Dey.

A team of students from the Statler College were announced as winners of the 16th annual West Virginia Business Plan Competition. The team was awarded $40,000 for their business Brite, a software-as-a-service platform that gives professors and administrators real-time data insights into student feedback, classroom learning and engagement, all while assisting students on their academic journey.

WVU students will partner with the ecotourism destination of Monteverde, Costa Rica, to address its stressed sewage problem, which includes undersized and aging septic tanks and untreated water from sinks and washing machines. During the summers of 2024-2026, WVU graduate students from the Statler College will work on multi-university teams of civil and environmental engineers and social scientists, partnering with local water authorities, to conduct hands-on research and investigate different wastewater treatment technologies in the Monteverde region.

The Industrial Assessment Center at West Virginia University’s Department of Industrial Management Systems Engineering within the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources has received funding from the Department of Energy to partner with Lehigh University to establish and support the Mid Atlantic Regional Industrial Assessment Center of Excellence. MARICE will be housed at Lehigh University and will focus on identifying new assessment technologies, tools and practices for application in the region.

The Statler College recently created the Microgravity Research Team Alumni Scholarship in honor of Professor Emeritus, John Kuhlman. Prominent alumni of the College spearheaded the creation of the new fund to support the next generation of aerospace leaders from WVU. The permanent endowment will provide a deserving student in the MRT program with a $1,000 scholarship annually.

Students from the Statler College have established a scholarship fund in honor of Denny Ayres, who passed away unexpectedly on December 22, 2022, after a brief illness.

Dear friends and colleagues,

As we close out the Spring semester, I cannot help but reflect on the excellent accomplishments in teaching, research, and service of our students, faculty, and staff this academic year. The culmination of a successful academic career is apparent when our students walk across the stage to collect their diplomas. I invite you to read about some of our outstanding students who graduated this semester. The Spring 2023 commencement was a beautiful day filled with cheering, pride, and a collective version of Country Roads that always brings a smile and occasional tears to our students and family. I can't wait to see where their path leads them, but Country Roads will always lead them home.

Let's Go!

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Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources | West Virginia University
1374 Evansdale Drive | P.O. Box 6070 | Morgantown, WV 26506-6070
PHONE: 304.293.4821 | EMAIL: engineeringwv@mail.wvu.edu

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