News

App State environmental science majors Kyia Wing, a senior from Suwanee, Georgia, left, and Kaden Cusack ’25, an App State alumnus from Cary, take a close look at the new boulder donated to the university’s rock garden by Albemarle Corp. Cusak graduated from App State in May, earning his bachelor’s degree in environmental science. Photo by Chase Reynolds

Rock garden and lab expanded at App State after Helene cleanup
Jul 2, 2025

BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University’s Fred Webb Jr. Outdoor Lab and Rock Garden — a resource for geology students, researc...

Water tracks, shown by the darker curvilinear parallel bands of green vegetation, transmit water downslope into the Upper Kuparuk River on the North Slope of Alaska in July 2019. Credit: Qifan Yang

Water Tracks: The Veins of Thawing Landscapes [faculty co-authored]
Jun 27, 2025

In the Arctic, one of the primary paths for water to flow is along water tracks, stream-like features that fill with and route water when the soil abo...

Tucker Terrell ’25, who graduated from App State in May with a bachelor’s degree in geology-environmental geology, far left, shows community members where a single headstone was located by App State researchers trying to determine the position of grave sites in an area formerly covered with brush behind the Fort Defiance site in Caldwell County. Photo by Bret Yager

App State researchers uncover hidden history at Fort Defiance
Jun 23, 2025

BOONE, N.C. — In a newly discovered graveyard at Fort Defiance in Caldwell County, an interdisciplinary effort led by Appalachian State Un...

UCalgary paleontologist Darla Zelenitsky and PhD candidate Jared Voris, left, helped identify the dinosaur species using fossils found in Mongolia. Photo by Riley Brandt, University of Calgary

Jared Voris '16 identifies second new dinosaur species
Jun 18, 2025

BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University alumnus Jared Voris '16 is the lead author of a new Nature study identifying a new sp...

App State senior Tucker Terrell, a geology-environmental geology major from Burlington, explains how he used ground-penetrating radar to locate unmarked burials of enslaved people at Fort Defiance, located near Lenoir in Caldwell County. The work helped confirm ancestral stories and the role of enslaved people in the fort’s history. Terrell is one of three undergraduate students who were honored with awards for their research at the university’s 28th Annual Celebration of Student Research and Creative Endea

Geology major Tucker Terrell receives award at Annual Celebration of Student Research and Creative Endeavors
May 8, 2025

Tucker Terrell, of Burlington, a senior geology-environmental geology major, used ground-penetrating radar to establish the location of burials of ens...

Brian Zimmer

Brian Zimmer receives April 2025 staff shout out
May 2, 2025

A student described Zimmer as "incredibly helpful, down to earth, and exciting." They added, "He made geology very fun and I had an amazing time learn...

Top: App State senior Lex Foote, a Scholarships in STEM (S-STEM) Scholar in math from Linville, demonstrates an equation on the whiteboard. Bottom: From left to right: Dr. Rahman Tashakkori, Dr. Andrew Heckert, Dr. Mohammad Ali Javidian, Dr. Carol Babyak and Dr. Roshani Silwal. Photos by Chase Reynolds

$2 million grant funds scholarships, supports STEM education for over 50 App State students
Apr 25, 2025

BOONE, N.C. — A nearly $2 million grant awarded to Appalachian State University by the National Science Foundation (NSF) will help put educational g...

Dr. Jamie Levine

Dr. Jamie Levine receives UNC Board of Governors Award
Apr 3, 2025

Dr. Jamie Levine, professor in App State’s Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, has been a faculty member at App State since 2012. H...

Jane Grimson Medal of Excellence awardee Savannah Devine

Savannah Devine '22 awarded Jane Grimson Medal of Excellence
Feb 16, 2025

Research Ireland has awarded the prestigious Jane Grimson Medal of Excellence to UCD PhD candidate Savannah Devine....

Dr. Steven J. Hageman is a professor of geology in Appalachian State University's Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences. Photo by Marie Freeman

Do you know your Darwin Number? Dr. Steve Hageman can help!
Jan 29, 2025

BOONE, N.C. — Do you know your Darwin Number? If you've met Appalachian State University professor Dr. Steve Hageman, you're one of few with a ...