Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development

 

 

NERCRD in the News

 
West Virginia town with people enjoying a bike path and creek.

WVU Extension leads efforts to enhance sustainability of tourism in rural communities

July 8, 2026

This article by Hannah Booth (West Virginia University Division for Land-Grant Engagement) highlights the Tourism, Resiliency and Indicators for Post-Pandemic Planning (TRIP) project and a recently published study by the TRIP project team. NERCRD Director Stephan Goetz, Associate Director Stephen Alessi, and Faculty Affiliate Luyi Han are members of the project team. The TRIP project is led by WVU’s Doug Arbogast, who is also a member of the NERCRD Technical Advisory Committee.

 

Two Center-related research papers recognized with awards

November 3, 2019

Stephan Goetz and his co-authors recently received awards for their published research from the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences and from Emerald Publishing.

New method of analyzing networks reveals hidden patterns in data

September 12, 2019

A new way of measuring how relationships in a network change over time can reveal important details about the network, according to researchers at the Northeast Regional Center and the Korean Rural Economic Institute. For example, when applied to the world economy, the method detected the greatest amount of network change during 2008-09, the time of the global financial crisis.

Location, location, location: Where and how do food hubs flourish?

July 29, 2019

For a new food hub to succeed, it should be located in a community with a population sufficient to sustain it, according to a team of economists, who found that a county seeking to establish its first food hub needs roughly 182,000 residents for that food hub to break even. Their findings could help funding agencies establish criteria to determine whether and where new food hubs should be added.

Connecting downtowns and trails: new infobrief provides key findings from multi-state inquiry

July 24, 2019

With funding from the Northeast Center, a team of Extension staff and faculty from five states explored how communities can leverage their existing trail systems to promote vibrant downtown economies. They’ve recently released an infobrief that summarizes what they learned.

Measuring network rewiring over time

June 29, 2019

A new paper by Stephan Goetz and former Northeast Center research associate Yicheol Han advances the field of network science by introducing a new method of measuring how relationships in networks change over time. It was published in PLOS ONE this month.

Promoting economic resilience in Appalachia: Lessons from successful communities

May 8, 2019

The Appalachian communities that enjoyed persistent economic growth following the 2008 Great Recession have a number of factors in common, according to researchers who analyzed all 420 counties in the Appalachian region. Their findings will help guide future economic development strategies across Appalachia.

NERCRD research cited in the 2019 Economic Report of the President

May 6, 2019

NERCRD research is being used in the highest level of Federal Government. The 2019 Economic Report of the President cited three scientific papers written by NERCRD and collaborating researchers.

Tools for productive community meetings: Rising above the challenges

March 6, 2019

A team of Penn State Extension educators has developed a free video series that offers practical strategies to facilitate and build trust in the community. Titled “Community Conflict: Finding Middle Ground,” the series is designed to help community leaders, municipal officials and others who work in the public and nonprofit sector learn how to guide meetings toward a more productive and positive outcome for all. Each short video focuses on individual topics important to productive community conversations.

New research documents economic resilience across Appalachia

February 6, 2019

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) recently released “Strengthening Economic Resilience in Appalachia,” a new study identifying factors common across communities experiencing persistent economic growth in the aftermath of the 2008 Recession and other economic disruptions. Together with West Virginia University, the NERCRD played an instrumental role in developing this report. The research includes a statistical analysis of key factors common to economic resilience. A companion Guidebook for Practitioners offers additional insight that can inform economic development strategies across Appalachia.

Stephan Goetz

Goetz named president-elect of North American Regional Science Council

December 11, 2018

Stephan Goetz, professor of agricultural and regional economics in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and director of the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development, was appointed president-elect of the North American Regional Science Council (NARSC) last month.

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