Morgantown is home to the research centres of West Virginia University and to Mylan Pharmaceuticals, a generic-drug maker.

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"It's been a very, very serious and critical situation, " said John David, a West Virginia University Institute of Technology professor and volunteer with the South Appalachian Labor School who has been working in Fayette County.

CNN: July 7, 2012 -- Updated 0222 GMT (1022 HKT)

He has held the top job at West Virginia University, the University of Colorado, Brown University and Vanderbilt University.

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Young Mr. Venderlic, a senior at West Virginia University, is one of the few musicians I've encountered who has written songs about the reality of the state.

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Esper retired from the Associated Press in 2000 and become a professor of journalism at his alma mater, West Virginia University.

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The latest batch of partners also includes the Universities of Georgia, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Mexico and West Virginia University.

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Nearby, at West Virginia University's Center for Identification Technology Research, researchers are already testing some of these technologies that will ultimately be used by the FBI.

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His mother couldn't afford to pay college tuition, so he landed an engineering scholarship at West Virginia Institute of Technology, later receiving a master's degree from Princeton University.

FORBES: Trading Places