Genomics & Plant Breeding research programs. CASTEM programs encourage the state's youth to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Network (STEM) fields to become engineers, scientists, researchers, teachers, and leaders.
== History ==
WVSU is located on land once occupied by mound builder Native Americans. The British government granted the site to George Washington for his service in the British military during the French and Indian War. It was subsequently sold and operated as a plantation, using enslaved labor. Prior to 1830, Samuel I. Cabell, moved to the Kanawha River valley from Georgia and married Mary Barnes, a former slave, who bore thirteen children. He bought the property in 1853 and much to the displeasure of their white neighbors, took elaborate precautions to ensure that Mary, his wife, and their children would inherit his wealth and not be sold into slavery, including officially emancipating Mary and their then-living children in 1858. Sam Cabell was murdered shortly …
