URMA Annual Conference 2025

2025 Conference Agenda Snapshot

• The pre-conference day will include a trip to the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, which utilizes the latest technologies and innovative approaches, such as focused ultrasound, to advance brain health. RNI’s breakthroughs in treating Alzheimer’s disease and addiction were featured in CBS’ 60 Minutes. We will then say ‘hello’ to our little, metal friends at WVU Robotics. Researchers there have created robots that act as pollinators, self-flying drones and six-legged “insects.”
• Our fun guy on fungi, Matt Kasson, will disperse wisdom on how he’s emerged as one of WVU’s rock stars. The impetus for his ascension as a media voice started with this news release on “flying saltshakers of death,” or “zombie cicadas.”
  • In 2024 alone, the associate professor of forest pathology and mycology appeared in the Washington Post, CNN, Popular Science, Discover and National Geographic, just to name a few.
  • Beyond the zombie cicada, Kasson conducts fun experiments that garner popular media eyeballs including ones studying pumpkin spice lattes and injecting marshmallow peeps with fungi.
• You wanted em, you got em! Session panels and conversations will take place on AI do’s and don’ts in research comms, meaningful analytics, navigating government partnerships and the ongoing federal directives, maintaining relevancy with your magazine in the modern world and making sense of the changing social media landscape.
• WVU is a world leader in forensic science – being one of only a few universities in the country to offer bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. We will the WVU Crime Scene Training Complex, the largest in the country that consists of four crime scene houses.
• The American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) has heard great things about URMA – and they want to join us in Morgantown. Folks from the AAAS will present on how science intersects with policy and how communications can serve policymakers. They’ll also chat about AI and ChatGPT’s role in its sci comm office and offer other helpful hints.
• We are inviting The Conversation and WVU faculty authors to spread the good word on how you can work with researchers to reach millions of readers across the globe.
• The URMA Film Festival will highlight some of the best video productions from URMA member institutions.
• Nuts & Bolts and Fire Hose sessions to up your game.
• Keep an eye out for appearances by the Mountaineer and our therapy dogs!

TRAVEL & ACCOMMODATIONS

The Hotel Morgan, a Wyndham Hotel, 127 High Street, Morgantown, WV 26505
The Hotel Morgan is located conveniently near the conference venue and is steps from WV University. Hotel Morgan has been a quintessential fixture in the university town of Morgantown, West Virginia since 1925.

Follow the Country Roads — How to Get Here

By Plane
The closest major airport to Morgantown is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (PIT), an hour-and-some change to the north. From there, one can take an Uber or Lyft or rent a car from the airport. There’s also a Grey Line shuttle bus that travels between Pittsburgh and Morgantown: https://www.busride.org/29-grey-line

There are also two regional airports – one in Morgantown (MGW) and another in Clarksburg, West Virginia (CKB).