Latest News

June 30, 2021

Despite vastly outnumbering large farms, small farms produce only a tiny fraction of Pennsylvania's total agricultural output. However, these smaller operations support billions of dollars worth of economic activity while helping to preserve farmland and adding to the diversity of the state's agriculture, according to researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

June 22, 2021

A new study by Penn State researchers, who looked at emergency room admissions across the U.S. over a recent five-year period in a novel way, suggests that the agriculture industry is even more dangerous than previously believed.

June 18, 2021

Undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to apply to the Penn State One Health Scholars Program, a cross-disciplinary applied-training program in which a cohort of scholars will work closely with faculty whose research, teaching and practice involve One Health.

June 18, 2021

The Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE) has awarded seed grants to 22 groups of interdisciplinary researchers at Penn State for the 2020-21 award cycle. This year, seed grants were awarded to proposals focusing on at least one of IEE’s five strategic research themes — Climate and Ecosystem Change, Health and the Environment, Integrated Energy Systems, Urban Systems, and Water and Biogeochemical Cycles.

June 17, 2021

Seven Penn State faculty teams have received seed grants for biodiversity research as part of the 2021 “Mainstreaming Biodiversity in a Decade of Action” symposium, developed by Christina Grozinger, Publius Vergilius Maro Professor of Entomology and director of the Center for Pollinator Research, in collaboration with Penn State’s Sustainability Institute.

June 17, 2021

With sorghum poised to become an important crop grown by Pennsylvania farmers, Penn State researchers, in a new study, tested more than 150 germplasm lines of the plant for resistance to a fungus likely to hamper its production.

June 16, 2021

Erickson Discovery Grants were awarded to 54 undergraduate Penn State students to cover costs related to undergraduate research.

June 16, 2021

Penn State Research has supported more than 2,500 jobs and generated nearly $200 million in economic impact since 2015 according to The Science Coalition’s “Sparking Economic Growth” report, which highlights 53 companies from coalition member institutions that trace their roots to federally funded university research.

June 9, 2021

Watershedwide nutrient credit trading has been suggested as a mechanism for reducing pollution entering the Chesapeake Bay, but a new study by Penn State researchers suggests that the high cost of producing nitrogen credits through the establishment of riparian buffers on Pennsylvania farmland currently does not provide an incentive for buffer establishment.

June 9, 2021

Blair D. Siegfried, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology at the University of Florida, has been named associate dean for research and graduate education and director of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, effective Oct. 1.

June 4, 2021

As he retires from Penn State at the end of June, Terry Etherton, distinguished professor of animal nutrition, is known in animal science circles around the world as a pioneer for his research. But in the College of Agricultural Sciences, he also is recognized as a leader whose steady hand guided the Department of Animal Science for more than 22 years.

June 1, 2021

Researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences have developed a robotic mechanism for mushroom picking and trimming and demonstrated its effectiveness for the automated harvesting of button mushrooms.

May 21, 2021

After successful collaborations with the Research Innovations with Scientists and Engineers (RISE) team, College of Agricultural Sciences researchers Christina Grozinger and Karen Fisher-Vanden sought to share this valuable resource with their colleagues through a seed grant competition.

May 18, 2021

Computed tomography — CT scanning — which combines a series of X-ray images taken from different angles around an organism and uses computer processing to create cross-sectional images of its bones, is providing new insight into an old initiative to characterize fishes in Africa’s Lake Malawi.

May 17, 2021

For the first time, a gene that controls flowering in cacao has been identified, a discovery that may help accelerate breeding efforts aimed at improving the disease-ridden plant, Penn State researchers suggested in a new study.

May 14, 2021

Penn State University Libraries and the Schreyer Honors College recognized the 10th annual finalist presentations and winner of the recently endowed Robert F. Guentter Jr. Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis Award on May 6, immediately following the three finalists’ remote presentations. Finalists represented the College of Agricultural Sciences, the College of Information Sciences and Technology, and the College of the Liberal Arts.

May 11, 2021

When Andrew McNitt and colleagues were conducting a study of the survivability of bacteria that cause staph infections on synthetic and natural turf football fields in 2008-09, no one had heard of COVID-19, of course. So, the question of whether the novel coronavirus that triggered the global pandemic could persist on playing surfaces and infect players was unimaginable.

May 10, 2021

Penn State and U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists have used cutting-edge CRISPR/Cas technology to develop a diagnostic test that could enable early diagnosis of citrus greening, or Huanglongbing, a serious disease that threatens worldwide citrus production, which is valued at roughly $17 billion from the sale of fresh fruit and juices.

May 10, 2021

A Penn State research team has received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop novel strategies to overcome the constraints that the seasonal cycle imposes on reproductive output of turkey hens.

May 3, 2021

An abnormal build up of carbohydrates — sugars and starches — in the kernels and leaves of a mutant line of corn can be traced to one misregulated gene, and that discovery offers clues about how the plant deals with stress.

April 23, 2021

A newly founded, interdisciplinary research center established to further foundational and applied artificial intelligence in engineered systems will be housed in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the Penn State College of Engineering.

April 22, 2021

Invent Penn State’s 2021 virtual Tech Tournament showcased eight of Penn State’s most disruptive innovations and early-stage startups born out of Penn State’s research enterprise. The winner of the $75,000 top prize, Cranial Devices Inc. (CDI), was led by Barry Fell, a consultant for the Surgery Innovation Group in the Department of Surgery at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. He co-founded CDI with Dr. Randy Haluck, professor of surgery at Penn State College of Medicine.

April 21, 2021

Using dairy manure and legume cover crops in crop rotations can reduce the need for inputs of inorganic nitrogen fertilizer for corn, thereby protecting water quality, but these practices also can contribute to emissions of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas. That’s the conclusion of Penn State researchers, who measured nitrous oxide emissions from the corn phases of two crop rotations.

April 21, 2021

An international team of researchers has received a grant from the Human Frontier Science Program to investigate how carnivory-related genes, such as those involved in digestion, could help crops not only avoid pests, but also thrive in low-nutrient environments. Ultimately, the team’s goal is to reduce reliance on pesticides and fertilizers.

April 19, 2021

Poa annua, or annual bluegrass, a turfgrass species commonly found on golf course putting greens around the world, possesses transgenerational memory, “remembering” whether its parent was mowed or not mowed, according to a new study by Penn State researchers.

April 14, 2021

A Penn State-led research team has received a nearly $950,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to create the next generation of an online decision-support tool designed to help conserve pollinator populations across the United States.

April 13, 2021

Supplementation of cocoa powder in the diet of high-fat-fed mice with liver disease markedly reduced the severity of their condition, according to a new study by Penn State researchers, who suggest the results have implications for people.

April 9, 2021

“The State of Venture and Growth Capital in the COVID-19 Era” panel during the Invent Penn State Venture & IP Conference will explore the effects of COVID-19 on venture and growth investing and its outlook through 2021. Taking place virtually from 1:45-2:35 p.m. on April 15, the panel also will examine important investment lessons learned because of the pandemic.

April 7, 2021

A grant of nearly $1.4 million from the National Science Foundation will support Margarita López-Uribe, an entomologist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, in a study examining the influence of plant domestication on the ecology and evolution of wild pollinator species in agricultural landscapes.

April 6, 2021

Eight of Penn State’s most disruptive and promising early-stage technologies will compete for $150,000 in the Invent Penn State Tech Tournament, a signature event of the Invent Penn State Venture & IP Conference, at 2:45 p.m. on April 15