JULY 2025

To build a modern-day electrical grid with the flexibility and resilience to handle ebbing and flowing energy sources like solar and wind power, West Virginia University engineers have designed and successfully tested a fuel cell that can switch between storing or making electricity and also generate hydrogen from water.

Issuing a call for collaboration focused on the future, WVU President Michael T. Benson gave his first official report during a special meeting for the University’s Board of Governors. Representing WVU classified staff on the WVU BOG is Statler College Administrative Associate, Dianne Stewart.

The Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering has recognized Ashish Nimbarte, Industrial and Management Systems department chair, as a 2025 fellow for his contributions to education, research and innovation.  

It might be summertime, but the Statler College has been alive with the sounds of students learning, experimenting, and analyzing. The West Virginia SpaceTrek Program summer camp held July 12–20 welcomed 17 high school girls from across West Virginia to the world of aerospace engineering. Their guides on this stellar journey? The Statler College’s own Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering faculty and students.

J.Wayne Richards will serve a two-year term as chairman of the WVU Foundation Board of Directors. The 1981 mining engineering alumnus is president and CEO of GR Energy Services based in Sugar Land, Texas. Prior to that, he served as president and CEO of Global Oilfield Services, which was sold to a major oilfield services company in 2012. Richards also spent more than two decades in senior operational and sales and marketing positions with Schlumberger.

Dear friends and colleagues,  

I hope you are having a wonderful summer. While the summer is a time to recharge and prepare for the upcoming fall semester, our faculty, staff, and students also view it as an opportunity to strive for excellence, inspire future engineers and computer scientists, and work diligently for the University community.

In this issue of EngineeringWV Wired, we invite you to read about the innovative research conducted by Xingbo Liu, our associate dean for research, and his team on building fuel cells that can switch between storing and making electricity and also generate hydrogen from water. In the spirit of inspiring future generations of engineers, we also highlight our mechanical, materials, and aerospace engineering students who taught and provided opportunities for aspiring aerospace engineers through the SpaceTrek program this summer.

We are proud of Ashish Nimbarte, chair of the Industrial and Management Systems Engineering Department, who has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Additionally, we take great pride in our alumni and staff who serve on various boards that support our college and university. Congratulations to J. Wayne Richards on his appointment as chair of the WVU Foundation Board of Directors, and to Dianne Stewart, administrative associate of the Statler College, for representing WVU Classified Staff on the WVU Board of Governors.

We are excited to welcome our students, faculty, and staff back to campus for the start of the Fall 2025 semester in just a few weeks and to continue celebrating all of their outstanding accomplishments!

Enjoy the rest of your summer, and 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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