Latest News

August 17, 2020

Two students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, Janelle Answer and Justin Kurtz, have received the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship.

August 3, 2020

As part of Penn State’s ongoing support of research in the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus, an online information session focused specifically on WEF nexus efforts in Colombia will be held from 9 to 11:45 a.m. on Aug. 6. Siela Maximova, a global faculty fellow for Latin America for the College of Agricultural Sciences; Rachel Brennan, director of the Penn State WEF Nexus Initiative; and Paige Castellanos, assistant research professor of international agriculture and rural sociology, along with Warner, are hosting the information session via Zoom.

July 29, 2020

Surinder Chopra, professor of maize genetics in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been awarded funding from the U.S Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study the improvement of corn defenses against the fall armyworm.

July 22, 2020

Even under ideal conditions, rural farmers have their work cut out for them. This is particularly the case for women, who are responsible for a multitude of chores in the field and in the home. The coronavirus pandemic has made female farmers’ to-do lists more daunting as they manage added domestic responsibilities while ensuring a safe and ample food supply for their families and communities. Reflecting on the challenges, but more importantly, the triumphs of women in agriculture in the era of COVID-19 was the impetus for the blog, “Gender, Food, Agriculture, and the Coronavirus,” created by gender scholars in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

July 20, 2020

In their zeal to promote the importance of climate change as an ecological driver, climate scientists increasingly are ignoring the profound role that Indigenous peoples played in fire and vegetation dynamics, not only in the eastern United States but worldwide, according to a Penn State researcher.

July 10, 2020

Although the travel portion of their study abroad class was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, animal science students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences still experienced a “virtual” Ireland while learning about the equine industry in Pennsylvania.

June 17, 2020

GEARE faculty launch a blog examining gendered impacts, specifically in the area of food and agriculture, due to the Corona virus pandemic.

June 15, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is negatively affecting all segments of society, and young people — whose educational, financial and social lives have been hindered — are no exception, leaving many of them anxious about the future. Supporting those youth — and empowering them to play an active role in addressing the challenges left in the pandemic’s wake — is the focus of a global research initiative supported by faculty and students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

June 9, 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.

May 19, 2020

May 13, 2020

Olivia Richart is the recipient of the Outstanding Senior Award for the 2019-20 academic year in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. The Outstanding Senior Award, sponsored by the College of Agricultural Sciences Alumni Society and the Coaly Society, honors the senior who best balances outstanding academics, extracurricular activities, work experience and communication skills. Candidates are selected based on resumes, grades, interviews and a short essay.

May 4, 2020

A $450,000 grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut Research will aid researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences as they explore the potential to empower women farmers in northern Ghana through peanut production.

April 20, 2020

Deanna Behring, assistant dean and director of international programs in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences is a recipient of the college's Distinguished Alumni Award, an honor that recognizes alumni who have demonstrated excellence in career achievements and contributions to community and humanity.

April 14, 2020

Penn State Extension is connecting with Latinx agriculturists in essential food businesses to provide timely outreach and science-based education on farm production, food safety and workplace risk management.

March 5, 2020

Started in 2018, Global Guides is a seven-month professional development program for teachers in any discipline. It is a partnership between the World Food Prize Foundation, an international organization that recognizes achievements in food security, and "Global Teach Ag!" at Penn State, an initiative that aims to develop capacity in teachers for global impact in food, fiber and natural resources through youth development and education programming.

March 2, 2020

Through a memorandum of understanding with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. (FAO), David Hughes, Penn State professor of entomology and biology and creator of PlantVillage, an initiative to empower farmers with agricultural knowledge and technologies, is answering a UN call for a rapid response to the growing locust threat to East African crops. With U.N. support, he and his colleagues are fast-tracking the creation of a mobile app that locates and tracks the insects in order to assist in early warning and targeted spraying efforts.

January 30, 2020

In 2017 and 2018, Penn State hosted three young innovators as part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship. The fellowship empowers young African leaders through academic coursework, leadership training and network opportunities. The fellowship is the top program of the Young African Leaders Initiative, and past fellows have established records of accomplishment in promoting innovation and positive change in their organizations, institutions, communities and countries. These young leaders represent the diversity of Africa, including equal numbers of women and men, individuals with disabilities, and people from both urban and rural areas.

January 24, 2020

A technology that uses dielectric heating and radio frequency energy to destroy destructive pests lurking within wood products is closer to reaching the marketplace after a recent commercial trial at Penn State’s University Park campus.

January 23, 2020

A novel composite film — created by the bonding of an antimicrobial layer to conventional, clear polyethylene plastic typically used to vacuum-package foods such as meat and fish — could help to decrease foodborne illness outbreaks, according to researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. The antimicrobial lining of the film is comprised of a pullulan-based biopolymer produced from starch syrup during a fermentation process, which is already approved for use in foods. Development of the composite antimicrobial film is important because 76 million cases of foodborne illnesses occur each year in the U.S. alone, resulting in 300,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. NIFA helped supported this research.

October 29, 2019

October 25, 2019

A new three-year project that will pilot and scale locally viable and gender-responsive circular-economy solutions was launched on 24 September in Nairobi, Kenya.

October 21, 2019

Two graduate students from South Africa recently had the opportunity to expand their research, develop a mentorship network and increase multicultural fluency as a result of a strategic partnership between the Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) at the University of Pretoria.

October 9, 2019

A new strategic planning group at Penn State seeks to enhance engagement and continue to provide support to Pennsylvania’s Latinx agricultural community.

October 7, 2019

A nearly $4 million grant awarded to Penn State will support an interdisciplinary, multi-university team of researchers as they explore bacterial pathogens causing leaf spot diseases that are damaging valuable agricultural crops such as watermelon and pumpkin.

October 3, 2019

Penn State has introduced a new policy governing the process for designating and approving visiting scholars to the University, as well as the responsibilities of University personnel and departments who wish to host a visiting scholar.

October 1, 2019

Undergraduate students from the Penn State chapter of Engineers Without Borders have launched a collaboration with the Namutamba community in Uganda to improve the community’s access to potable water.

October 1, 2019

Cassidy Prince has learned a great deal about foodborne pathogens while working in the lab of Jasna Kovac, Penn State assistant professor of food science. She also has learned how gratifying it can be to pass what she has learned onto others.

September 25, 2019

Researchers unveil their app for climate-smart agriculture in conjunction with the UN Climate Action Summit

September 18, 2019

A novel use of a custom laser system — developed in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences eight years ago — allows researchers to see how soil organisms affect plant roots. The discovery has implications for future breeding of more resilient and productive crops, according to an international team of scientists.

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 Penn State 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.