Latest News

February 1, 2023

To help ease costs related to preparing for education abroad, Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has established the Ag Sciences Global Gear Closet — a resource for students that provides donated items that might be helpful while studying abroad.

February 1, 2023

Specialty mushrooms such as oyster are relatively easy to grow on a small scale, making them attractive to those looking to diversify a farm, engage in a hobby or launch a small business. Research-based information from Penn State about producing specialty mushrooms also may benefit people from a war-torn region of Africa.

February 1, 2023

The alliance, called GCUA, is a network of more than 15 universities worldwide with a shared vision of contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through international collaboration and research.

February 1, 2023

Shah Chowdhury graduated from Penn State in 2018 with a degree in community, environment and development. He co-founded an organization called Footsteps, was part of the Youth Assembly at the United Nations, was a Diana Award recipient, and was nominated for Forbes "30 Under 30" list for Asia.

February 1, 2023

Divya Pant collaborated with Rabin Pant, founder of the Waste to Energy project, on her initiative Carbon Away. She founded the program in 2021 with the goal of converting waste generated during the agricultural process into energy and fertilizer.

November 9, 2022

The Latinx Agricultural Network in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has been lauded nationally for enhancing engagement with and support for Pennsylvania’s Latino agricultural community. The group was the recipient of the 2022 National Extension Award for Diversity, co-sponsored by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities' Extension Committee on Organization and Policy, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

October 31, 2022

An international, Penn State-led consortium aims to improve drought risk analysis and management and increase societal resilience in Africa, funded by a three-year, $1.1 million grant from the Belmont Forum.

October 31, 2022

Lisa Witzig has been appointed director of Penn State’s Center for Security Research and Education. With a career that spans over 40 years of working with the U.S. Intelligence Community and in the private sector, Witzig’s new responsibilities will include securing funding for interdisciplinary research on security-related topics and organizing opportunities to bring together key players in security-related fields together with Penn State faculty and students.

October 31, 2022

New research led by Penn State found that a lack of rainfall was associated with the highest risk of food insecurity in Tanzania. Heather Randell, assistant professor of rural sociology and demography in the College of Agricultural Sciences, said the findings could have important policy implications focused on helping agricultural households become more resilient against drought conditions.

October 31, 2022

Osama Awadelkarim, professor of engineering science and mechanics and the director of the Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization in the College of Engineering, and Mark Brennan, professor of leadership and community development and director of graduate studies for education, development and community engagement in the College of Agricultural Sciences — hold the prestigious title of UNESCO chair.

October 31, 2022

Inspired by his early days growing up in Bangladesh, Chowdhury — now a Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences alumnus — knew solutions were needed for the challenges faced by Bangladeshis, including the lack of access to safe drinking water.

September 16, 2022

Students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences explored Greece’s rich culture — and its food — while studying abroad in Thessaloniki, Greece, this summer.

September 7, 2022

Flavonoids produced by sorghum leaves have shown promising results in combating fall armyworm larvae. When sprayed on the leaves of corn, sorghum flavonoids stunt the growth of fall armyworm and often kill the pest, Penn State researchers report in a new study.

August 29, 2022

WEF (Water-Energy-Food) Nexus Alliance has announced the first Colombia – USA WEF Nexus Seed Grant Program, supported with funds from the founding alliance partners. It will provide support for WEF Nexus transdisciplinary projects to build long‐term collaboration including with external organizations in Colombia.

August 29, 2022

A team of Penn State researchers has received a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to lead a three-institution team developing the “SustainFood Network,” which will link scientists, communities and policymakers in addressing challenges at the nexus of water, energy and food security in Africa.

August 29, 2022

After a two-year pause due to the pandemic, students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences once again are taking advantage of study abroad opportunities. In the spring semester, students visited countries around the world, including Spain, Ireland, Germany and Kenya.

August 19, 2022

Penn State's GEARE Initiative partner, CSIR-SARI, supports two farming communities in northern Ghana with time saving technologies for peanut production as part of the USAID Feed the Future Peanut Innovation Lab (at UGA)'s funded project, "Time Poverty Amongst Smallholder Farmers in Northern Ghana."

June 30, 2022

Penn State students will have the chance to explore this unique region of the world through a new embedded course, “Antarctica: Human Impacts on a Fragile Environment,” offered in the fall 2023 semester. Ag Sciences Global and the Environmental Resource Management program in the College of Agricultural Sciences are developing the course curriculum in partnership with the Center for Global Engineering Engagement.

May 5, 2022

Innovative research showing that populations of a small fish that live in both Iceland’s lakes and marine waters, respond more quickly and differently to predators after they invade new freshwater lakes, demonstrating how some animals can adapt rapidly to changes in their environments and may be able to adapt to climate change.

April 27, 2022

As a mushroom scientist and manager at the center, John Pecchia often shares his expertise in mushroom cultivation and disease management with industry professionals, mainly in Pennsylvania, the U.S. and Canada. The request from Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture presented challenges, the most significant being travel restrictions due to COVID-19. Nonetheless, Pecchia responded to the call.

April 26, 2022

An international team led by David Hughes, founder of Penn State’s PlantVillage project, has been named among 15 milestone winners of the latest round of the XPRIZE and Musk Foundation’s Carbon Removal Competition. The prize comes with a $1 million award funded by Elon Musk, which the PlantVillage team will use to demonstrate their capacity to draw down one billion tons of carbon per year in a sound and economically attractive way that benefits low-income farmers in Africa.

April 21, 2022

“Gender, Food, and COVID-19: Global Stories of Harm and Hope,” a new book co-edited by Paige Castellanos, Carolyn Sachs and Ann Tickamyer, gender scholars in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. The book details how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts gender, agriculture and food systems worldwide, told from the personal accounts of scholars, practitioners and community members.

April 8, 2022

Exploring the emergence, spread and control of animal infectious diseases such as avian influenza was the focus of the inaugural Emerging Animal Infectious Disease Conference held Nov. 29-Dec.1, 2021, at Penn State. It was hosted by the College of Agricultural Sciences, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and Penn State’s Center for Security Research and Education.

April 4, 2022

For 30 years, Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has been working with researchers and institutions in Ukraine, which had been in the process of reforming its farmland laws. WPSU's Anne Danahy talked with Suzanna Windon, a native of Ukraine and an assistant professor who became the director of the Ukrainian Rural and Agricultural Development Program last fall and Deanna Behring, assistant dean for Ag Sciences Global.

March 30, 2022

The research acknowledges what has been widely agreed upon for decades: In higher latitude countries — such as nuclear powers the U.S. and Russia — there would be no agricultural production and little food gathering possible in a nuclear winter after an all-out conflagration.

March 29, 2022

Christopher Scott’s career is as varied as the many places he has lived and worked, such as Nepal, Mexico, Argentina and India. His expertise is in water, and much like water, his work connects to many areas, including climate change, energy, policy, sustainability and agriculture.

March 29, 2022

Penn State Global has announced the 2021-22 recipients of its annual awards that recognize the outstanding contributions of individuals and academic programs at Penn State who have helped to advance the University’s global engagement goals.

March 29, 2022

Developing solutions to address threats to plant health is the centerpiece of a partnership between Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and the University of Pretoria in South Africa. “Penn State and the University of Pretoria both are working at world-class levels, so working together is mutually beneficial for research, education and outreach."

March 29, 2022

Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has recognized five faculty members for outstanding teaching in 2021. The recipients of the college’s Community of Teaching Excellence Award are Noel Habashy, assistant teaching professor of international agriculture; Siobhan Fathel, assistant teaching professor of agricultural and biological engineering; Kathleen Sexsmith, assistant professor of rural sociology; and Robert Van Saun, professor of veterinary science.

March 29, 2022

For 30 years, Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has had a strong and productive working relationship with agriculture and universities in Ukraine, said Dean Rick Roush. As the invasion of Ukraine by Russia continues, said Roush, “words fail to describe our reaction to the events of the last few weeks."