Many know West Virginia University for our Mountaineer Pride. The football team does pretty well (usually) and the basketball team goes pretty far in March Madness. Many do not realize the academic successes here at WVU.
With a relatively high acceptance rate, the school can be overlooked when it comes to academics. Most of the time when WVU makes national headlines, it’s for partying gone wrong.
So in honor of Earth Day, let’s take a look back at what WVU has accomplished in efforts to conserve the wild and wonderful state, as well as the nation as a whole.
One of the largest headlines WVU made recently has been their results of the study conducted by WVU’s Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions, or CAFEE. They found that nitrogen oxide emissions, one of the top 6 common air pollutants, from Volkswagen diesel engines exceeded the EPA’s standard. One vehicle exceeded the standard by a factor of 15 to 35 and the other by a factor of 5 to 20.
News broke that Volkswagen had admitted to using a “defeat device” in its diesel passenger cars. Investigations by the California Air Resources Board and U.S. EPA’s had revealed that the automaker changed code in the car’s central computer in order to cheat on emissions tests. (statler.wvu.edu)
Major media outlets were contacting WVU and it was out of the ordinary for the school to make major national headlines. News outlets including Motor Trend, Roadshow by CNET and Time magazine were all reporting on this story.
This is not the first time researchers at CAFEE have been involved in off-cycle emissions research. Back in the 1990s, CAFEE was chosen to conduct in-use emissions testing for heavy-duty engines.This led to the center developing the world’s first mobile on-board diesel emissions testing system. (statler.wvu.edu)
This success has led to the investment in WVU research and advancement. The United States Department of Energy donated $1.25 million dollars to the university for research on renewable energy. The university also joined the newest branch of the United States Department of Energy’s National Network of Manufacturing Institutes. Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment institute, or RAPID. John Hu, Statler Chair in engineering
RAPID is fast-tracking research that will directly increase the productivity of industry manufacturing processes while simultaneously lowering energy costs, lowering capital equipment costs and making higher gains in overall efficiency. (wvutoday.wvu.edu)
WVU is in this program with the best of the best including,
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Georgia Tech
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- University of Michigan
- University of Pittsburgh
- Idaho National Laboratory
- DuPont
Headlines and stories like this proves that WVU is a leader among advancement in new conservation technologies. However, the school still struggles to have the reputation that some other big name schools have for their research. The New York Times even wrote an article about how the researchers behind the Volkswagen emissions testing have received little reward for their findings.
Still, WVU pushes forward to gain the recognition they deserve. Dan Carder, director of the university’s Center for Alternative Fuels Engines and Emissions, was named one of Time magazine’s most influential people in 2016. WVU is even honored to host the kickoff at the nations largest clean vehicle awareness event in Texas. You can learn more about the event here.
On campus, the WVU Sierra Student Coalition is hosting an Earth Day Celebration on the downtown campus. There will be environmental speakers, music, activities, and food.
So this Earth Day we should celebrate and support the accomplishments the university has made in conserving the environment.
Great post!! I feel like sadly Earth Day is a holiday that tends to be overlooked rather than celebrated by most. I remember hearing about Volkswagens debacle and it was tragic since they are typically such a well, positively known brand. Huge shout out to WVU CAFEE for being recognized for all of the great research and findings they have come cross so far! It is so exciting to be recognized for the positives and I’m looking forward to seeing what else they can further accomplish.
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A nice look at the amazing things our university has accomplished in favor of the environment. Like you said, the negative things, such as the “party school” reputation can be overshadowing to some truly groundbreaking research and academics. I enjoyed that you chose a focus instead of just doing a general Earth Day post, yet still gave the holiday the recognition it deserves.
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I love how this post highlights our school’s positive achievements. I totally agree with you about how our schools negative past can sometimes follow us but you did a great job reporting on how we have come to achieve so much recently. I definitely think that if we, as a institution, keep on the path we are going than we can really refine our image for the better.
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This is a great post. Very timely since it’s earth day! West Virginia never seems to get enough spot light time when we actually need vs when people are so quick to stereotype Appalachia before even understanding the residents here. This state is quickly advancing with new research methods and technological advances. This post brings light to some of those issues and rewards.
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