June 8, 2020
Rising senior Amanda Grub is using her education in the College of Education to bring community-supported agriculture to her hometown, while also building little libraries and completing a virtual internship with the University's Agriculture and Environment Center.
June 8, 2020
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all become aware of how a global crisis can affect our access to food. But imagine the food security impacts of an even worse scenario — an all-out nuclear war, a large asteroid strike or a supervolcano eruption. Such catastrophes could block out sunlight, alter rainfall patterns and contaminate water supplies, which could drastically affect our food systems. An interdisciplinary team of Penn State professors has received $3 million from Open Philanthropy to study food resilience in the face of such catastrophic global events.
June 8, 2020
Muskrat populations have declined sharply across North America over the last 50 years or so, and wildlife scientists have struggled to understand why. A new study by a Pennsylvania research team is investigating whether pathogens, parasites, environmental contaminants and disease may be contributing to this decline.
June 4, 2020
Christina Grozinger, distinguished professor of entomology and director of the Center for Pollinator Research, has been named scholar-in-residence at the Sustainability Institute.
June 3, 2020
The Latin name for brook trout — Salvelinus fontinalis — means "speckled fish of the fountains," but a new study by Penn State researchers suggests, for the first time, that the larger streams and rivers those fountains, or headwaters, flow into may be just as important to the brook trout.
June 2, 2020
Ryley Lehew and Tyler Jones received the Dr. William Henson Student Diversity Achievement Award from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, an honor that recognizes distinctive and outstanding teaching, research, extension or creative work that advances diversity in the college.
June 1, 2020
Penn State's 2020 Ag Progress Days exposition, which was scheduled for Aug. 11-13, has been cancelled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, organizers in the College of Agricultural Sciences announced.
June 1, 2020
The Penn State Center Philadelphia, Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, and faculty in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Education at Penn State worked with students in Penn State Law on a project designed to address the needs of immigrant communities in the context of COVID-19.
May 29, 2020
Two graduate students advised by faculty in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences have received prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, and three other students received honorable mentions.
May 28, 2020
The Pennsylvania General Assembly today (May 28) passed a partial state budget that maintains Penn State’s current funding levels for the entire 2020-21 fiscal year. This includes level funding of $242.1 million for Penn State’s general support appropriation, $54.96 million for Penn State Agricultural Research and Extension, and $26.74 million for Pennsylvania College of Technology.
May 28, 2020
Terrence Bell, assistant professor of phytobiomes in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, recently received a $480,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study generalist microorganisms in agricultural systems.
May 28, 2020
Plant pathologists in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences are lending their expertise to a multi-institutional research project designed to stop a destructive bacterial disease in lettuce.
May 27, 2020
For the past three years, WPSU, Penn State University Park’s local NPR affiliate station, and the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP) have collaborated to host the statewide Inc.U undergraduate student startup competition. The competition culminates in the six finalists competing head-to-head on the live “Shark Tank-style” TV show, "The Investment."
May 26, 2020
After a severe drought gripped the Prairie Pothole Region of the U.S. and Canada in the 1980s, populations of almost all dabbling duck species that breed there have recovered. But not northern pintails. Now a new study by a team of researchers suggests why — they have been caught in an ecological trap.
May 26, 2020
The Farm Market Finder, an interactive tool developed by Penn State Extension, is aimed at helping Pennsylvania consumers find farmers markets in their area.
May 26, 2020
Farmers whose operations have been impacted negatively by changing precipitation patterns — either too much or not enough water — are more likely to acknowledge the link between extreme weather conditions and climate change. That is one of the findings of a study examining farmers’ perceptions of resource availability and climate change, published recently in Organization and the Environment.
May 26, 2020
A webinar series from Penn State Extension, “Refining the Retail New Normal,” explores ways for business owners to adjust their retail model for comfortable and safe shopping experiences for their customers.
May 26, 2020
Bill Bahnfleth, co-principal investigator (PI) and professor of architectural engineering, is joining co-PI Suresh Kuchipudi, clinical professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences, to study the ability of optical radiation to disinfect surfaces and reduce transmission of viruses.
May 20, 2020
Leaving her footprint on the natural world — in a reduced-carbon kind of way — has been a long-held aspiration for Sarah Schanwald. The recent Penn State graduate, who holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental resource management from the College of Agricultural Sciences, is well on her way to doing that based on the strength of her experiences at the University.
May 20, 2020
When Monica Hepler and her husband decided to take the “Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point for Meat and Poultry Processors” course offered by Penn State Extension a year ago, they had no idea, of course, that a global pandemic was coming.
May 20, 2020
The seed for Penn State’s Institute for Sustainable Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Science was planted well before the COVID-19 outbreak. The concept had been growing in the College of Agricultural Sciences for about two years when the pandemic emerged.
May 19, 2020
Since 1985, students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences have gained a larger world view through participation in the international agriculture minor.
May 19, 2020
An interactive map unveiled recently by Penn State Extension — and created in consultation with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission — will help internet service providers as they prepare to bid on projects to expand broadband services to unserved regions in Pennsylvania.
May 18, 2020
Researchers in the Center for Economic and Community Development in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences have developed an online StoryMap, titled "Vulnerable Pennsylvanians in the Context of a Pandemic," that they hope will facilitate engagement and help communities become stronger in the wake of COVID-19.
May 15, 2020
Three individuals have received the Dr. William Henson Diversity Achievement Award from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, an honor that recognizes distinctive and outstanding teaching, research, extension or creative work that advances diversity in the college.
May 15, 2020
Food scientists Gregory Ziegler and Joshua Lambert are the 2020 recipients of the Research Innovators Award, given by Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences to recognize faculty and staff who have commercialized intellectual property generated by their Penn State research.
May 14, 2020
Penn State researchers met virtually with members of Congress and their staff during COSSA’s sixth annual Social Science Advocacy Day.
May 14, 2020
Students majoring in community, environment, and development in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences can add a new option to reflect a growing interest in corporate responsibility. The social and environmental responsibility option takes effect in the fall 2020 semester.
May 14, 2020
The State College Mask Makers group, which is led by physics graduate student Rachael Huxford and contains more than 50 members of the Penn State community, has donated more than 2,500 cloth masks to families and small businesses in Centre County during the COVID-19 outbreak.
May 14, 2020
Despite having only a few weeks to shift an in-person auction to an online event, the 18th annual Penn State Equine Science Showcase and Quarter Horse Sale was a smashing success, organizers said. Twelve horses sold for approximately $94,700, giving this sale the highest average sale price per horse in the program’s history.