Latest News

June 4, 2026

The Center for Plant Excellence, an initiative supporting Pennsylvania’s plant industries, announced an additional $241,903 in grants for its 2025-26 funding cycle, bringing the total number of projects funded in its inaugural grant program to 26.

June 4, 2026

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, in partnership with the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School, is seeking applicants for four half-time (20-hour) graduate assistantships within Huck Core Facilities during the fall 2026 semester.

June 1, 2026

Sridhar Komarneni, Penn State distinguished professor of clay mineralogy, marked 50 years with the College of Agricultural Sciences March 1. He came to the University in 1976 in a career move he said he has never regretted.

May 28, 2026

Quinn Burnett, a fourth-year food science student in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, was recognized for her research on how sourdough starter microbiomes affect the digestibility of breads at the IPA World Congress + Probiota 2026 conference.

May 27, 2026

Many soybean farmers use seeds treated with fungicides to ward off disease, but the profits from these increased yields might not offset the cost of the treatment in most cases, according to a study done by researchers at Penn State.

May 26, 2026

Tourism affects local populations differently in counties across the U.S., but measuring these effects may now be easier thanks to a new tool developed as part of a study by researchers at Penn State.

May 26, 2026

Paul and Jane Miller, through a six-figure pledge, have created the Paul and Jane Miller Undergraduate Research Fund in the College of Agricultural Sciences' Department of Ecosystem Science and Management. With the goal of seeing their philanthropy in action, the Millers have also committed to a five-year, $25,000 pledge to early activate their research endowment.

May 21, 2026

Sarah Kirkmeyer, Penn State affiliate and adjunct researcher of food science and senior manager of user research and service design at the Kroger Company, has been elected a fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists. 

May 21, 2026

Plant sciences graduate Charles Colvin has been selected as the recipient of the Outstanding Senior Award for the 2025-26 academic year in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

May 19, 2026

Penn State’s Beescape tool is gaining a new feature that allows users to download county-specific lists of pollinator-attractive plants, offering a more localized approach to improving pollinator habitats across Pennsylvania.

May 18, 2026

A new study led by researchers at Penn State explored why some bumble bee larvae become workers and others become queens, despite coming from the same eggs.

May 18, 2026

Researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences have received a grant of nearly $309,000 from the U.S. Geological Survey, part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, to study the movement and impacts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in small agricultural watersheds across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

May 12, 2026

An international project led by a Penn State team is helping to identify how community-based bioeconomies in the Brazilian Amazon can support forest conservation while increasing income opportunities for the traditional and Indigenous communities that protect and manage these landscapes. 

May 12, 2026

A Penn State soil scientist has received a $1.6 million, five-year grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to fund her team’s study of how increasing temperature fluctuations impact the biocrust microbiome — the complex, thin-layer microbe community that stabilizes soil, fixes nitrogen and drives nutrient cycling in drylands.

May 12, 2026

Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences welcomed a delegation from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, or FAO, to University Park last week to mark the first anniversary of the World Food Forum Youth Food Lab North America at Penn State partnership and to explore opportunities to deepen collaboration on global agrifood systems, innovation and education.

May 11, 2026

The Penn State Sustainable Labs Program continues to expand its reach across campuses while advancing efforts to reduce the environmental impact of research spaces. The 2025–26 cohort included 20 labs spanning multiple colleges, with seven labs recertifying after participating in the program’s inaugural 2022–23 cohort. The program supports research teams in adopting sustainable practices without compromising scientific discovery, with participation remaining free to all labs.

May 11, 2026

In recognition of Lyme Disease Awareness month, Erika Machtinger, associate professor of entomology in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, offered practical tips on protecting against ticks in this Q&A. 

May 11, 2026

For the first time in more than three decades, a Penn Stater has earned one of science’s most competitive graduate fellowships. Charlie Colvin has been named a 2026 Hertz Fellow.

May 11, 2026

Invasive woody plants present a major ecological challenge in eastern U.S. forests by outcompeting native species and spreading quickly, forming dense thickets that crowd out native plants and disrupt ecosystems. Land managers have tried, with some success, to use prescribed fire to kill them, but is it effective? Researchers at Penn State reported mixed results when it comes to two of the most aggressive colonizers across North American landscapes, burning bush and border privet.

May 6, 2026

Environmental scientists and water resource managers need precise, high-resolution maps to reveal areas that farmers should avoid when planting crops, to limit polluting waters with phosphorus from fertilizer or manure. Making those maps has depended on an expensive, sometimes unavailable technology, but a team led by Penn State researchers has developed a cheaper approach that can be just as effective.

May 6, 2026

Penn State senior Isabel Rivera found her passion through undergraduate geography research that took her from classroom learning and data analysis to fieldwork in South Africa.

May 5, 2026

Too many white-tailed deer are damaging forests in the U.S. by eating young plants before they can grow, limiting forest regeneration and damaging biodiversity. To mitigate this challenge, the Pennsylvania Game Commission implemented an initiative called the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) that helps landowners manage deer populations by allowing hunters to harvest more female deer where they are overabundant.

May 5, 2026

Suat Irmak, professor and head of Penn State’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, received the prestigious Royce J. Tipton Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers at the 2026 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, held April 26-29 in Mobile, Alabama.

May 4, 2026

Legumes like soybeans, alfalfa, peas, beans, peanuts and many more can mutualistically partner with soil bacteria called rhizobia to benefit both organisms. Not just any rhizobia will do, however, as specific rhizobia match with specific plants for the best crop outcome, according to a team led by Penn State researchers, who recently discovered that plant genes strongly influence which rhizobial strains plants chose from a diverse mixture.

April 29, 2026

Thirty-three non-tenure-line faculty will use Opportunity Grants to fund a project of their choosing during the 2026-27 academic year. Opportunity Grants are designed for clinical, teaching, research and professors of practice faculty to receive funding for professional development through a self-proposed project.

April 29, 2026

Tanya Berger-Wolf, professor of computer science engineering; of electrical and computer engineering; and of evolution, ecology and organismal biology at Ohio State University, gave a lecture titled “AI for Nature: From Science to Action" as part of the Distinguished Lectures in Life Sciences series presented by the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

April 27, 2026

Two Penn State doctoral students will spend eight weeks in Germany at the headquarters of global biotechnology company QIAGEN. This marks the third year of the program, a partnership between the One Health Microbiome Center and QIAGEN.

April 24, 2026

Leaders from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences joined University, state and local officials to mark the official opening of the Keystone Animal Diagnostic Center at the Penn State Beaver campus in Monaca.