Decision-makers in energy producing nations on opposite sides of the world will need nimble skills to navigate complicated intersections of intertwined issues if they hope to develop sustainable clean energy industries for the rest of the 21st century.

A team of West Virginia University researchers has been given the green light to research and build models that can help by examining two important energy rich regions of the world – West Virginia and the Shanxi Province of China.

The project is a collaboration among key experts in the WVU Regional Research Institute and the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design including Principal Investigator Hodjat Ghadimi, Wesley Burnett, and Jerald J. Fletcher, all of the Davis College, and RRI Director Randall Jackson.

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They may have spent more than 30 hours rattling through the air in a twin-engine aircraft and traveled almost 3,500 miles roundtrip, but for West Virginia University researchers Paul Kinder and Adam Riley their most recent data-gathering excursion was an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.

The duo, researchers with the Natural Resource Analysis Center in the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, recently traveled to the Midwest and Southwest to collect high resolution airborne light detection and ranging data of several sites in Colorado, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

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The Davis College’s Natural Resource Analysis Center is working with Geostellar, an eastern panhandle tech firm that helps industry and individuals estimate energy potential. West Virginia Public Radio’s Cecelia Mason reports:

Currently estimates are only available for a small area in West Virginia because the company is still collecting the aerial photography needed to create the maps. They are available for Jefferson County and planes have flown over Morgan and Berkeley Counties. The company is collecting photos of the rest of the state.

“We’re working with the West Virginia University Natural Resources Center that’s collecting this very high resolution model it’s called Lidar, for the rest of the state,” Levine said. “So it’s going to be rolling out to the rest of the state over the course of a year.”

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Coal may be king in West Virginia, but there are other members of the Mountain State’s royal family of energy Natural gas, wind, solar and biofuels are taking their places in the state’s energy portfolio, and industry is looking for graduates who see the big picture.

Two West Virginia University educators are crafting programs that foster those industry-ready graduates with the assistance of a $150,000 grant from the Benedum Foundation.

Fonda Holehouse and Gerard D’Souza, faculty in the agricultural and resource economics program in WVU’s Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, are developing a range of initiatives under an umbrella they call “EQuad.”

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West Virginia University’s chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta, the honor society of agriculture, recently recognized students, faculty, alumni and friends at its annual initiation and awards banquet.

The chapter honored professors and alumni for their work with awards of merit and distinguished service. Twelve students from the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design were presented outstanding sophomore, junior, senior and service and leadership awards.

The following students received the chapters Outstanding Sophomore Awards: Caitlin Shields, an interior design major from Princeton, W.Va., and Michelle Williams, an agribusiness management and rural development major from Middlebourne, W.Va.

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Three students from the West Virginia University Davis College are among the latest cohort of McNair Scholars:

Adam Carte, a biochemistry major from Hico, W.Va.
Amanda Harker, an environmental and natural resources economics major from Fairmont, W.Va.
Angela Martinez, an environmental and natural resources economics major from Twinsburg, Ohio

Through financial aid, academic advising and undergraduate research opportunities, the McNair Scholars Program pushes underrepresented students toward their doctorate degrees.

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A student in the Davis College’s resource management and sustainable development doctoral program is part of an effort to revitalize Moundsville, W.Va.:

“I really wanted to bond with the community,” said Festus Manly-Spain, a master of public administration graduate and doctoral student in resource management and sustainable development in the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design. “I’ve been working with the community on tourism and helping them to see the treasures within their community.”

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Six students from the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design were recently recognized as West Virginia University Foundation Outstanding Seniors, and two of them were named to the Order of Augusta, the most prestigious student honor at WVU.

Amy Burt, who has a dual major in agribusiness management and rural development and mining engineering, was named to the Order of Augusta.

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Writing for The Daily Athenaeum, Bryan Bumgardner reports results from the West Virginia Statewide Business Plan Competition. Animal and nutritional sciences student Meg Grzeskiewicz took top honors in the Lifestyle and Innovation category with Bulls-I Breeding Technology, and agribusiness management and rural development student Katie Workman won the Hospitality and Tourism category with Homestyle Meals at Snowshoe.

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Learn basic management and marketing techniques relevant to the food and agribusiness industry during a new summer course offered through the West Virginia University Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design. Food and Agribusiness Industry Management in the 21st Century (ARE 304) is designed to help students experience the real life challenges facing agribusiness enterprises, develop a capacity to conduct a basic strategic analysis for a real agribusiness firm, and acquire key knowledge and skills required by serious agribusiness managers today.

For more information, contact Blessing Maumbe at 304-293-5636, or Alan Collins at 304-293-5486.