Faculty & Staff

App State student researchers engage in an archaeology field school, using trowels to excavate a layer of soil just beneath the reach of plows at the university’s Blackburn Vannoy Estate and Farm in Ashe County. They discovered an ancient hearth, storage pits, pottery and projectile points made of quartz, quartzite, rhyolite, flint and jasper — evidence that the area was used as a camp by Native American peoples. Pictured are senior anthropology majors Peyton Harrison, of Conover; Cowan Ramirez, of Ashevill

App State archaeology team discovers ancient campsite at Blackburn Vannoy Estate and Farm in Ashe County
Jul 28, 2025

BOONE, N.C. — During an archaeological dig at Appalachian State University’s Blackburn Vannoy Estate and Farm this summer, archaeologist...

Dr. Cynthia Liutkus is professor and chair of Appalachian State University's Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences.

Dr. Cynthia Liutkus co-authors new study revealing 18-million-year-old proteins in fossil teeth
Jul 23, 2025

BOONE, N.C. — Dr. Cynthia Liutkus, professor and chair in Appalachian State University's Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, is a c...

Dr. Maggie Sugg is an associate professor and the honors director in the Appalachian State University Department of Geography and Planning.

Some Helene volunteers show signs of PTSD, App State professor says [faculty featured]
Jul 18, 2025

Maggie Sugg has lived in western North Carolina her whole life. She is from Asheville. Her family is still there, but she was in Boone and witnessed H...

Research and Creative Activity at Appalachian (RECAPP) Logo

Submissions open for annual Research and Creative Activity at Appalachian event
Jul 11, 2025

The Office of Research and Innovation at Appalachian State University is hosting the seventh annual Research and Creative Activity at Appalachian (REC...

Dr. Yeganeh Madadi (right), assistant professor and director of the Robotics Lab in the Department of Computer Science, with YeRo, a humanoid robot, during the Robotics Lab opening on June 25 in Anne Belk Hall. Photo by Chase Reynolds

Department of Computer Science celebrates Robotics Lab opening
Jul 10, 2025

BOONE, N.C. — On Wednesday, June 25, the Appalachian State University Department of Computer Science celebrated the opening of its Robotics Lab in A...

Dr. Maggie Sugg is an associate professor and the honors director in the Appalachian State University Department of Geography and Planning.

Dr. Maggie Sugg receives grant to establish Appalachia flood-health resilience research network
Jul 9, 2025

BOONE, N.C. — Dr. Maggie Sugg, associate professor and honors director in the Appalachian State University Department of Geography and Planning, is ...

Dr. Zachary Russell, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at App State, center, works with student researchers Ethan Humphries, a senior physics major from Kings Mountain, and Hunter Corman ’24, an engineering physics graduate student from Morehead City, pictured in the background, in the Ion Innovations Scientific Instrumentation Development Lab in Boone to assemble 3D-printed components for rapid prototyping of microscope designs. Russell has been awarded a $2.3 million grant fro

Tracking parasites in farm animals is tricky. AI microscope developed in NC may help. [faculty featured]
Jul 2, 2025

Artificial intelligence is being integrated into phones, search engines, and recently, microscopes. At Appalachian State University, researchers were ...

Susan Keefe, Pegge Laine, Carolyn Grimes, Roberta Jackson and Lynn Patterson discussed the recent projects of the Junaluska Heritage Association. Photo by Nick Fogleman

Library celebrates the Junaluska Heritage Association [faculty featured]
Jul 2, 2025

BOONE — The annual Friends of the Watauga County Library celebration featured a panel discussion centered on two recently published books about Boon...

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...