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Eberly College of Arts & Sciences Department of Geology and Geography
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Research

The WVU Department of Geology and Geography has a broad and extensive research mission supporting projects that span multiple continents and positively impact our state, region, and the world in multiple ways.

Explore Our Research Areas

A small sampling of the diversity of subjects includes:

  • Researching  tectonic evolution from Northern Alaska and Northeastern Russia to the Appalachian Basin.
  • Challenging food system inequalities, environmental justice, and sustainable development in communities through West Virginia through the Center for Resilient Communities and ResilienceLink.
  • Providing critical geographical information for the state and region through the  West Virginia GIS Technical Center.
  • Exploring patterns in macroevolution and macroecology through a phylogenetic framework in the  Paleobiology Lab.
  • Providing a long-term field site for improving recovery efficiency and minimizing environmental implications of unconventional hydrocarbon development at the  Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Lab.
  • Exploring extreme acid saline lake and groundwater environments that are analogs for some Mars strata in the Red Earth Observatory Lab Group.
  • Using the information stored in tree rings to understand past environments and the people who lived in them in the Montane Forest Dynamics Lab.
  • Contributing to international development through research grants and strategic partnerships with Federal agencies.
  • Explore more subjects and labs on our Research Areas page.

There’s some people who want to go to Mars – they want to be the astronaut. That’s not my dream. I want to see rocks come back.

Professor Kathleen Benison

Return Sample Selection Participating Scientist
Mars 2020 Mission

Dr. Benison's NASA Profile Red Earth Observatory Lab

Collaborations

Interdisciplinary Collaborations

Explore our research and community engagement with other colleges and departments.

View Collaborations

Industry Partnerships

Industry support and partnerships are cornerstones of our research.

Our Partnerships

Community Service and Outreach

We are committed to giving back to the community in research and service.

Service In Action

Featured Centers

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West Virginia GIS Technical Center

The purpose of the West Virginia GIS Technical Center is to provide focus, direction and leadership to users of geographic information systems (GIS), digital mapping and remote sensing within the State of West Virginia.

West Virginia GIS Technical Center
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Center for Resilient Communities

The Center for Resilient Communities (CRC) is dedicated to advancing community-engaged research and education programs that generate knowledge and empower individuals, with the goal of building more just, equitable, and vibrant communities.

Center for Resilient Communities

Research Highlights

A glimpse of research news, projects and activities that span multiple continents and positively impact our state, region, and the world in multiple ways. Learn more about Our Research Areas.

A map of the United States with Political Parties of the senate colors in red, blue or striped.

Red Map, Blue Map With Kenneth C. Martis

In the 1970s and ’80s, geographer Kenneth C. Martis, Emeritus Professor of Geography, mapped every congressional district and color-coded them by political party, going all the way back to the first Congress. Recently his work was featured in the Humanities Magazine, Summer 2023 Edition article "Red Map, Blue Map."

Read the Article Meet Dr. Martis

Male with grey hair and beard dressed in a suit and tie

Mapping a Legacy with Gregory Elmes

After a 35-year career, Professor Emeritus Gregory Elmes aspires to give back to the university that has given him so much. He and wife Jeanne have established a planned gift, the Dr. Gregory and Mrs. Jeanne Elmes Geography Endowment, to support undergraduate geography students in their research endeavors.

Read More in the Eberly Magazine

Female wearing a helmet with headlamp inspects the rocks in a cave.

Caving Culturally with María Pérez

What do caves and human geography have in common?  That’s what María Alejandra Pérez, Associate Professor of Geography at the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, will be considering as she studies “ecologies of participation” in karst regions of Puerto Rico,  supported by a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

Read Eberly College Article Meet María