Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

INVEST

IN THE FUTURE STATLER COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND MINERAL RESOURCES

... state-of-the-art facilities, that provide students and faculty access to the tools they need to be leaders in technological advancement and entrepreneurship ‌ ... faculty who are passionate in continuing their own quest for knowledge and impart that pioneering spirit in their classes, labs and research. ... students who are committed to exploration and discovery, working tirelessly to make the world a better place. ... support by public and private investments, to sustain these efforts and encourage them to go even further.

We encourage you to support the Mountaineer spirit.

Infrastructure connects businesses, communities and people; it drives our economy and improves our quality of life.

And it’s no secret that America’s is outdated and in need of modernization.

a g n i Build bridge r e t t e b In West Virginia alone, the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card found that 8.7 percent of our bridges are rated structurally deficient and 285 dams are considered to be high-hazard potential.

This deteriorating infrastructure impedes our state’s ability to compete in an increasingly global marketplace.

One person trying to make a difference is Praveen Majjigapu, a graduate student in civil engineering. Working with Hota GangaRao (standing) in WVU’s Constructed Facilities Center, his research focuses on economical solutions to repair deteriorating infrastructure. To date, Praveen has designed innovative, patented fiber reinforced polymer composites—material that can be wrapped around existing concrete, timber and steel to strengthen structures. His efforts have been rewarded with a number of awards including the WVU Outstanding Merit Fellowship for Continuing Doctoral Students. The fellowship provides a University tuition waiver, College tuition scholarship, stipend and health insurance.

When you invest in graduate students like Praveen you help him to continue this important research, which not only benefits him professionally but the world globally.

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A major built for Generation Z

cell viability analyzer

Move over Millennials; here comes Gen Z! Born between 1995 and 2010 and representing 25 percent of the U.S. population, Generation Z are health conscious (think gluten-free, vegan), they are self-directed and highly motivated, they grew up with technology and they value higher education. They want to change the world, and they believe they can.

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Enter the Statler College’s newest undergraduate major: biomedical engineering.

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Biomedical engineers push the limits of science and engineering to develop new tools and techniques to solve some of our most fundamental medical problems. Their work will lead to advancements in everything from the largest MRI machine to the smallest microsurgical tools, from artificial limbs to artificial organs. Central to their educational success are learning opportunities with hands-on engagement in design and research.

Such an opportunity exists in the College’s Advanced Engineering Research Building. Under the direction of Associate Chair for Biomedical Engineering Cerasela Zoica Dinu, the new biomedical infrastructure will be used to help students establish core competencies in cell-based studies and manipulation. To be successful we need everything from incubators to centrifuges to bioprinters to ensure we provide students with a meaningful educational experience.

Our students and faculty cannot do cutting-edge research without cuttingedge equipment, all of which comes at a cost. Your investment will help them contribute to the next generation of solutions our world needs.

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What do Titusville, Florida, Stillwater, Oklahoma, Hampton, Virginia, and Worcester, Massachusetts, have in common? All of these cities and countless more have been visited recently by cars and vans full of WVU students and faculty.

Headed to a basketball or football game?

Nope—robotics competitions.

Caution: WVU robot on board Over the past few years, WVU has made quite a name for itself in the field of robotics.

Under the tutelage of Powsiri Klinkhachorn and Yu Gu, teams from the Statler College have traveled around the country winning NASA-sponsored competitions and accolades at virtually every level.

Unlike their competitors, however, most of their travel is done in cars and vans, forcing the teams to spend valuable time away from class. Many of our peer schools even have the resources to send their teams to international competitions, affording their students the opportunity to test their skills against the world’s best.

Our faculty traverse the globe as well, spreading the “good news” about what makes WVU special and making connections that improve the quality of instruction and research on our campus.

All of this activity comes at a price, and that price is increasing. Our successes and strengths should not be our “best-kept secret.” Funds to support student and faculty travel are crucial if the Statler College hopes to make an even bigger name for itself.

Pictured front: Saiph Savage, Thorsten Wuest; (first row) Leily Farrokhvar, Kakan Dey, Xiaopeng Ning, YanFang Ye; (second row) Andrew Nix, Jason Gross, Victor Fragoso; (third row) Ming Gu, Fernando Lima, Patrick Browning, Kevin Bandura, Cosmin Dumitrescu; (fourth row) Songgang Qiu, Konstantinos Sierros, Stefanos Papanikolaou, Arvind Thiruvengadam.

FACULTY FELLOWS Supporting the future When WVU alumnus Wayne Richards, and his wife Kathy created the Richards Faculty Fellowship Endowment, they hoped to set the stage to support faculty careers in the Statler College. Their gift provides flexible funds to allow the College to hire, retain, reward and recognize faculty members who have not yet achieved tenure.

That hope came to fruition when Thorsten Wuest and Saiph Savage were named the inaugural J. Wayne and Kathy Richards Faculty Fellows in Engineering.

The pair now have access to funds to enhance their research activities and labs and also support their travel as they develop their research programs.

Thorsten plans to expand his research in smart manufacturing with the goal of contributing to make West Virginia’s manufacturing landscape more resilient and better prepared for upcoming challenges. Saiph will explore new areas in the field of human-computer interaction, such as creating tools that bootstrap on social networks to improve engineering systems, which range from smart and connected health systems to efficient energy platforms.

Thorsten and Saiph are just two in a long line of junior faculty who could grow their research programs with your gift. Our junior faculty are working in areas related to energy, robotics, cyber security, biomedical engineering and biometrics, all of which are important to economic development in West Virginia. And in every case, they involve students in their work.

STUDENT

PROJECTS Committed to our communities

After water in Charleston and Flint, Michigan, was declared not safe for drinking due to contamination, people around the country stood up and took notice. Dozens of organizations at both the state and federal levels rushed to their aid, providing sampling, cleanup and temporary water stations.

Residents in the Boone County town of Prenter, however, wondered what all the fuss was about.

They have been living without a maintained water source for more than 10 years.

Members from WVU’s Chapter of Engineers Without Borders traveled to the once-booming coal community in an attempt to provide relief to its residents.

The short-term goal of the project is to restore the water system to a point where disinfection and aeration is occurring to remove viruses, bacteria and hydrogen sulfide from the water. Their long-term goal is to establish the community as a nonprofit organization, which will allow residents to collectively become the legal owners of the water system.

This is just one example of the many student projects that not only teach our students how to be better engineers but better citizens of the world as well. There are nearly 50 student organizations in the Statler College that are involved in everything from K-12 outreach to making radio contact with the International Space Station. Your gift to our student project fund will allow us to provide more students with this type of hands-on learning experience— including global experiences—that are important to their professional development and future career success.

Pledge payments

can be made as a gift of cash, check or credit card directed toward the fulfillment of an existing multi-year commitment to the University.

Outright gifts

of cash, check or credit card (not attached to a pledge) are immediately beneficial to the University and can be directed to any funding priority.

Gifts of securities

often confer significant tax benefits on the donor. For example, contributions of appreciated securities held for more than a year are generally deductible at market value and are exempt from capital gains tax. Securities can be transferred to the WVU Foundation as outright gifts, used to make a pledge payment or to fund an income-producing gift.

Matching gifts

are made by companies that wish to multiply the charitable gifts of employees.

Most participating companies will match gifts dollar-fordollar, and some will doubleor triple-match employee donations.

Planned gifts, Gifts of real estate

are often made by individuals who possess real estate assets but may not have the cash flow to fund an outright gift. Such gifts may be made in a number of ways: as outright gifts, with residual interest in the property or to fund an income-producing gift.

Donors of real estate may realize significant tax benefits.

including bequests, charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts and retirement plan assets, can provide benefits to families now and in the future, while assisting WVU for generations to come. In the case of income-producing gifts, they will leverage the expertise of WVU’s Investment Office to provide substantial benefits to both the University and the donor.

Capital gifts Endowed chairs and professorships

Endowments

Endowments provide a meaningful way to deepen and enrich the WVU experience by providing a sustainable source of funding for curricular and extracurricular opportunities, including graduate research; lecture series, seminars and conferences; and academic awards. Endowments also help to invest, advance and/or sustain promising programs.

Endowed chairs and professorships are vital because they provide distinguished leadership to academic programs, centers and/or departments that enhance our teaching and research as well as the professional development needs of highly productive faculty.

Scholarships and fellowships

A continued emphasis on financial aid and merit scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students will help to both ensure affordability and enhance competitiveness for recruiting and graduating these students.

Faculty fellowships

Faculty fellowships provide funds to allow the College to hire, retain, reward and recognize high-achieving faculty members who have not yet achieved the rank of professor.

Gifts for construction, renovation or refurbishment of facilities ensures we maintain excellent and up-to-date environments for learning and research that keep the College competitive in a global environment.

Endowed departments

A naming gift for a department is a transformational gift, providing a sustainable source of funding to support the academic and research activities of students and faculty, which is vital to program viability and enhanced peer recognition.

These are just a few examples of the ways in which your investment supports the students and faculty in the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. There are many other ways in which you can help ensure the College’s continued strength and leadership in engineering education. Please contact us for more information.

MOUNTAINEERS GO FIRST. ™

EUGENE V. CILENTO SHAMS KHAN Glen H. Hiner Dean Assistant Dean for Development 304.293.4157 304.293.4036 gene.cilento@mail.wvu.edu shams.khan@mail.wvu.edu Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources West Virginia University 367 Mineral Resources Building 401 Evansdale Drive Morgantown, WV 26506-6070 statler.wvu.edu The WVU Board of Governors is the governing body of WVU. The Higher Education Policy Commission in West Virginia is responsible for developing, establishing and overseeing the implementation of a public policy agenda for the state’s four-year colleges and universities.

WVU is an EEO/Affirmative Action employer — Minority/Female/Disability/Veteran.