About us

West Virginia is one of the nation’s most rural states with over half of their population living in rural areas. It is very sparsely populated, with 1.85 million citizens in just over 24,000 square miles. The NASA WV EPSCoR has tailored its programs to the unique configuration of the state’s needs and strengths and limitations of various colleges and universities in the state in a way that seems to make the best use of the opportunity represented by NASA’s vision in establishing the NASA EPSCoR program.  Our mosaic of programs covers all aspects of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education pipeline and research in West Virginia. Our partners in academia, high tech industry, and government are hard at work to ensure that we have a highly cost-efficient and seamless transition between our programs and those of our partners.

The lead institution for the NASA WV EPSCoR program is West Virginia University (WVU), which also houses the WVSGC. WVU Research Corporation is the fiscal agent for NASA West Virginia EPSCoR.

Download NASA WV EPSCoR Brochure

Coordination with WV EPSCoR Committee occurs through the members of the NASA WV EPSCoR Committee appointed by the chairman of the State EPSCoR Committee. These members actively participate in the deliberation of the NASA WV EPSCoR Committee and share the views of the State Committee with the other members. Their insight and deep involvement have ensured the NASA WV EPSCoR Program does not duplicate other EPSCoR efforts in the state and is in line with West Virginia’s overall goals for economic, science, and technology development.

 

Committee members:

The NASA West Virginia EPSCoR committee members are devoted to advancing West Virginia’s scientific and technological development, and promoting research activities in direct support of NASA’s mission and scientific enterprises. NASA WV EPSCoR is an integral part of the mosaic of research infrastructure building programs conducted by the WV EPSCoR Committee as an umbrella organization for all EPSCoR programs in the state. Current members of the NASA WV EPSCoR Committee are listed below:

Juliana Serafin, Ph.D.

wvresearch.org
Senior Director, STaR Division: Science, Technology and Research   
Project Director, WVEPSCoR
WV Higher Education Policy  Commission
1018 Kanawha Blvd., E, Suite 700
Charleston, WV 25301
Phone: (304) 558-4128
Email:  Juliana.Serafin@wvresearch.org

 

Bethany College
www.bethanywv.edu

Lisa M. Reilly, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Goulding-Woolery Professor
Chair, Department of Physical and Computational Sciences
Bethany, WV 26032 
Phone: (304) 829-7244
Email: lreilly@bethanywv.edu

Bluefield State University
www.bluefieldstate.edu

Ted A. Lewis, Ed.D.
Provost & Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs
Bluefield State University 
219 Rock Street, Bluefield, WV 24701 
Phone: (304) 327-4161
Email: tlewis@bluefieldstate.edu

 

Columbus Technologies and Services, Inc. 

Mina Samii, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President of Aerospace
Columbus Technologies and Services, Inc.
Phone: (240) 401-3536
Email: msamii@columbususa.com

Community and Technical College System of WV
www.wvctcs.org

Dr. Chris Treadway
Vice Chancellor, WV Council for Community & Technical College Education
1018 Kanawha Blvd., East, Suite 700
Charleston, WV 25301
Phone: (304) 558-0265
Email: treadway@wvctcs.org

Fairmont State University
www.fairmontstate.edu

Steven Roof, PhD

Dean of the College of Science and Technology
328 HHH/ 302 ET
1201 Locust Avenue
Fairmont, West Virginia, 26554
O:  (304) 367-4363
Email:Steven.Roof@fairmontstate.edu

 

Glenville State University
www.glenville.edu

Leslie Mason
Senior Director of Grants and Compliance
Suite 2-215 Heflin Administration Building
Glenville, WV 26351
Phone: (304) 462-6387
Email: Leslie.Mason@glenville.edu

 

Marshall University
www.marshall.edu

John M. Maher, Ph.D.
Vice President for Research, Marshall University
Arthur Weisberg Family Applied Engineering Complex, Fourth Floor
1 John Marshall Drive
Huntington, WV  25755

Phone: (304) 697-2770
Email: maherj@marshall.edu

 

NASA IV&V Facility 
www.nasa.gov/ivv

Ms. Joelle Spagnuolo-Loretta
NASA IV&V Office Lead
100 University Drive
Fairmont, WV 26554
Phone: (681) 753-5254

Email: Joelle.Spagnuolo-Loretta@nasa.gov


 

Green Bank Observatory
greenbankobservatory.org

Karen O’Neil, Ph.D.
Director, Green Bank Observatory
155 Observatory Rd
P.O. Box 2
Phone: (304) 456-2130
Email: koneil@nrao.edu

 

Polyhedron Learning Media, Inc.
www.polyhedronlearning.com

Jeanne Finstein, Ed.D.
President/Director of Development 
105 Carmel Road
Wheeling, WV 26003
Phone: (304) 242-0341
Email: jfinstein@polyhedronlearning.com

 

Shepherd University
www.shepherd.edu

Reza Mirdamadi, Ph.D.
Chair of Computer Science, Mathematics & Engineering
Associate Professor of Engineering
Department of Computer Science, Mathematics & Engineering
Snyder Hall Room 225
Shepherdstown, WV 25443
Phone: (304) 876-5368
Email: rmirdama@shepherd.edu

 

West Liberty University
www.westliberty.edu

Karen Kettler, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Sciences
Campus Service Center Box 144
West Liberty, WV 26074
Phone: (304) 336-8052
Email: kkettler@westliberty.edu

WV High Technology Foundation
www.wvhtf.org

Mr. James L. Estep
President & CEO
1000 Technology Drive, Suite 1000 
Fairmont, WV 26554 
Phone: (304) 333-6814
Email: jestep@wvhtf.org

West Virginia State University
www.wvstateu.edu

Naveed Zaman, Ph.D.
Dean, Natural Sciences and Mathematics
P.O. Box 1000
816 Wallace Hall, Department of Mathematics
Institute, WV 25112
Phone: (304) 766-3394
Email: zamanna@wvstateu.edu

West Virginia University
www.wvu.edu

Duncan Lorimer, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Research, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
White Hall, Room G61
Morgantown, WV 26506
Phone: (304) 293-4867
Email: duncan.lorimer@mail.wvu.edu

 

West Virginia University Institute of Technology
www.wvutech.edu

Dr. Tamara Floyd Smith
Dean, Leonard C. Nelson College of Engineering and Science WVU Institute of Technology
410 Neville Street
Beckley, West Virginia 25801
Phone: (304) 929-1670
Email: tamara.smith1@mail.wvu.edu          

West Virginia Wesleyan College
www.wvwc.edu

Joseph Wiest, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics & Engineering
Department of Physics and Engineering
122 Christopher Hall
Buckhannon, WV 26201
Phone: (304) 473-8062
Email: wiest@wvwc.edu

Wheeling University 
www.wju.edu

Dr. Neetika Sharma
Chair, Assistant Professor of Physics and Engineering
316 Washington Avenue
Wheeling, WV 26003
Phone: 304-243-2287
Email: nsharma@wju.edu