News

The First Gen Student Experience Virtual Conversation held on April 13, 2020, was led by the students in the WVU Honors Special Topics course titled "Ambassador for Change". Dr. Kathryn Williamson, the course leader and also GWAC faculty, organized the event which also included course co-leader Dr. Michelle Richards Babb, and Provost Maryanne Reed.Over 90 attendees, which included high school students and teachers, undergraduate and graduate students, as well as university faculty, advisors, and staff shared personal stories and modern challenges in navigating the college experience as a first gen student.

Join groundbreaking scientist Jocelyn Bell Burnell for a presentation on her accidental discovery of pulsars, or magnetized rotating neutron stars that emit pulsing radio waves, while a student at the University ofCambridge. Bell Burnell will also share stories of when other researchers nearly discovered pulsars. In recognition of the importance of her work,she received a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics in 2018. Bell Burnell used the entirety of the $3 million prize to establish a scholarship for underrepresented students in physics research. This event is presented by the Department of Physics and Astronomyand the Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology.

The Conference for Undergraduate Women in Astronomy (CUWiA) will be held at West Virginia University on November 1-3, 2019.

West Virginia University researchers have helped discover the most massive neutron star to date, a breakthrough uncovered through the Green Bank Telescope in Pocahontas County.

Please join us Thursday, September 28th at 4pm for the next GWAC Center meeting.

Since the early 1900s scientists have known that the Universe is expanding but recent studies have shown that the rate of expansion is accelerating. The reason for this is currently unknown; however, Kevin Bandura, an assistant professor in the Lane Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering at West Virginia University, has been working on the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, or CHIME, for the past several years to solve the mystery.

Please join us Tuesday, August 29th at 4pm for the next GWAC Center meeting.