Latest News

May 14, 2019

Within the past decade, beekeepers across the globe have observed massive declines in managed honey bee populations. Similar declines have been observed in populations of wild bees and other pollinators. Understanding what is driving these declines is a vital question for researchers, beekeepers, growers, and the public. Several factors are being investigated, including habitat loss, climate change, disease, and pesticide use.

May 13, 2019

Laura Kaminsky, a doctoral student in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, will be able to advance her research interests in plant pathology after receiving a grant from the National Science Foundation.

May 7, 2019

The 2018–19 Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE) seed grant recipients have been awarded to 18 groups of interdisciplinary researchers at Penn State.

May 7, 2019

Penn State University Libraries awards recognized three outstanding undergraduate thesis authors as well as one graduate student and nine undergraduate student researchers, all exhibiting exemplary scholarly research methods and communication at University Park campus presentations this spring.

May 3, 2019

The prevalence of the most abundant species of ticks found in Pennsylvania has shifted over the last century, according to Penn State scientists, who analyzed 117 years' worth of specimens and data submitted primarily by residents from around the state.

May 2, 2019

Three students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences have been recognized for their commitment to diversity as winners of the inaugural Undergraduate Diversity Essay Contest, sponsored by the college’s Diversity Coordinating Council.

April 30, 2019

Jessica Chou spent last summer in Philadelphia, working as an intern on an urban farm and farmer’s market of a non-profit organization that delivered meals to homebound seniors. It was the Penn State Schreyer Honors Scholar’s first taste of living in a city, and it sparked a greater interest in the sustainability of urban environments.

April 30, 2019

While touring a hospital in India, Penn State entomologist Matthew Thomas recalls walking past the intensive care unit and seeing a young boy — about 14 years old — severely ill from malaria. He learned later that the boy had died the following day, and the unfortunate circumstance of it all stayed with Thomas. If the boy had been bitten by any other mosquito, he may not have died.

April 29, 2019

Planting and growing a strategic mix of cover crops not only reduces the loss of nitrogen from farm fields, protecting water quality in the Chesapeake Bay, but the practice also contributes nitrogen to subsequent cash crops, improving yields, according to researchers.

April 25, 2019

With the goal of preparing scholars from underrepresented groups to succeed in graduate and professional programs, Penn State, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) partnered to develop undergraduate programs aimed at increasing retention and academic performance of historically racially underrepresented undergraduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

April 25, 2019

Jasna Kovac, assistant professor of food science in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, recently was named recipient of the Institut Merieux Young Investigator Award in Antimicrobial Resistance from the International Association for Food Protection.

April 24, 2019

Jacob Johnson, a doctoral candidate in forest resources and in international agriculture and development in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, has received a Fulbright Study/Research Award.

April 24, 2019

Songbirds that pack on as much as 50 percent of their body weight before migrating and that sleep very little, exhibit altered immune system and tissue-repair function during the journey, which may hold implications for human health, according to Penn State researchers.

April 24, 2019

A group of doctoral students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences who are examining the use of perennial grasses as stream buffers will benefit from four complementary state and federal grants.

April 24, 2019

Hanareia Ehau-Taumaunu, doctoral candidate in the Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been selected as the recipient of the Phytobiomes Fellowship for the 2019-20 academic year.

April 23, 2019

The Institute for CyberScience (ICS) announced 16 projects that are being funded through the 2019 ICS Seed Grant Program. The awards, ranging from nearly $3,000 to $35,000, will support researchers in more than 20 departments and units, 10 colleges and three institutes.

April 22, 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.

April 12, 2019

The fourth annual Energy Days conference will be held on May 29-30 at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center. Registration for the conference is now open. The conference is open to the public and is free for Penn State students, faculty and staff.

April 12, 2019

GreenBriq, a student venture aimed at turning the biomass of invasive water hyacinth plants into affordable fuel briquettes for Kenyan families, recently won the $7,500 first-place prize in the Ag Springboard pitch contest.

April 8, 2019

The spotted lanternfly is not a strong or frequent flyer, weaknesses that may hinder its ability to travel long distances by air, according to researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

April 5, 2019

Penn State’s Deer Research Center, commonly referred to as “the deer pens,” has been an endearing part of many students’ college experiences since the 1970s, providing a one-of-a-kind opportunity for hands-on learning about one of the state’s most recognizable mammals.

April 3, 2019

April 3, 2019

Compounds produced by sorghum plants to defend against insect feeding could be isolated, synthesized and used as a targeted, nontoxic insect deterrent, according to researchers who studied plant-insect interactions that included field, greenhouse and laboratory components.

April 2, 2019

Consuming unsafe food is a major public health threat globally, but the continent bearing the most burden is Africa, where more than 91 million people fall ill and 140,000 die each year from foodborne diseases, according to the World Health Organization.

April 2, 2019

Dairy farmers in the Northeast can improve water quality and boost the profitability of their operations by changing the timing and method of applying manure to their fields in the fall, along with planting rye as a cover crop between corn crops — or by double-cropping rye and corn, according to Penn State researchers.

April 2, 2019

Mark Guiltinan, professor of plant molecular biology, and Siela Maximova, research professor of plant biotechnology, both in the College of Agricultural Sciences, are the recipients of Penn State's 2019 W. LaMarr Kopp International Achievement Award.

April 1, 2019

The round goby — a small, extremely prolific, invasive fish from Europe — poses a threat to endangered freshwater mussels in northwestern Pennsylvania's French Creek, one of the last strongholds for two species of mussels, according to researchers.