Latest News

October 21, 2019

A unique thesis project in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences showcases the stories of women in urban agriculture through photographs captured by the participants themselves.

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 10, 2019

$7.3 million grant awarded to Penn State will support an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional team of researchers as they conduct research and develop strategies to combat the spotted lanternfly.

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

Hangsheng "Henry" Lin, a highly respected soil scientist who was widely regarded as the founding father of hydropedology and a much-loved friend and Penn State colleague, died Sept. 26, at the age of 54 in his State College home after a battle with lung cancer.

October 2, 2019

Victoria Braithwaite, a highly regarded expert on animal behavior and cognition and a much-loved friend and colleague, died Sept. 30 at the age of 52 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

October 2, 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 2, 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.

October 2, 2019

Research Unplugged, the popular series of stimulating conversations with Penn State researchers, returns to Schlow Centre Region Library in October.

October 2, 2019

The Pennsylvania child-welfare system places thousands of children from across the state into adoptive families. Penn State researchers recently received a $3.8 million grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to explore successful post-adoption development in children.

October 2, 2019

Undergraduate students from across the country are returning to Penn State next week for the first international conference on the science of drawdown, the point at which greenhouse gases in the atmosphere begin to decline. The students, participants in this past summer’s Penn State Drawdown Scholars Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, will present results from their summer research projects from Sept. 16-18.

October 2, 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.

October 2, 2019

A new study provides an updated picture of the prevalence of the sheep and goat plague virus (PPRV), a widespread and often fatal disease that threatens 80 percent of the world’s sheep and goats, in northern Tanzania.

October 2, 2019

A new study led by a Penn State researcher suggests that while deer browsing has impacted tree regeneration in the understory, it has not had much of an impact on forest canopies — and in fact likely has slowed the forest densification process slightly.

October 2, 2019

Alaskan coastal Indigenous communities are facing severe environmental changes that threaten to irrevocably damage their way of life. A $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will allow Penn State researchers to assist local communities with foreseeable environmental challenges and work towards building more resilient communities.

October 2, 2019

Three Penn State researchers — Rachel Brennan, in the College of Engineering, and Mike Jacobson and Brian Thiede, in the College of Agricultural Sciences — recently received $250,000 in University Strategic Plan seed funding to address global Water-Energy-Food (WEF) challenges.

October 2, 2019

To reduce transmission of dengue to humans, scientists have introduced Wolbachia bacteria to A. aegypti mosquitoes. Now a team of international researchers has found that Wolbachia’s ability to block virus transmission may be maintained by natural selection, alleviating concern that this benefit could diminish over time.

October 2, 2019

Pathogenic bacteria that stubbornly lurk in some apple-packing facilities may be sheltered and protected by harmless bacteria that are known for their ability to form biofilms, according to Penn State researchers, who suggest the discovery could lead to development of alternative foodborne-pathogen-control strategies.

October 2, 2019

This October, Penn State Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) and the College of Agricultural Sciences will team up for a one-day symposium on digital fluency. Registration for the event is open, and it is free to attend.

October 2, 2019

Studies underway in the Philadelphia region — carried out by scientists from Penn State and Cornell University — aim to answer that question, with early findings showing promise against what has been described as the worst invasive pest to hit the U.S. since the gypsy moth.

October 2, 2019

Penn State Extension has established a new vector-borne disease team that focuses on diseases transmitted by ticks and mosquitos. To ensure that its efforts address community needs, the team is launching a survey, the results of which will allow extension educators to deliver responsive programming to educate the public on vector-borne diseases, how to prevent them, and how people can protect themselves.

October 2, 2019

The Penn State Postdoc Society has announced Molly Hanlon as the recipient of the 2019 Outstanding Postdoc Award, and Klaus Keller as the recipient of the 2019 Outstanding Postdoc Mentor Award.

October 2, 2019

Despite the buzz in recent years about other invasive insects that pose an even larger threat to agriculture and trees — such as the spotted lanternfly, the stink bug and the emerald ash borer — Penn State researchers have continued to study another damaging pest, the Asian longhorned beetle.

October 2, 2019

Whole genome sequencing technology may give epidemiologists and health care workers a powerful weapon in tracking and, possibly, controlling outbreaks of serious diseases, according to a team of researchers.

October 2, 2019

Every scientific discovery has one thing in common: It started with a question. But, as Penn State materials scientist Jeffrey Catchmark will attest, sometimes the most ingenious answers come from questions you didn’t even know to ask. Catchmark is developing new biomaterials by manipulating compounds found in nature. His research with biomaterials began with a single question: Is there an eco-friendly alternative to styrofoam?

October 2, 2019

Some of the potential applications of engineering biology, or synthetic biology, sound like science fiction: genetically engineered organisms that produce plastics from carbon dioxide and synthetic gut microbes that detect and wipe out invading organisms before you get sick. Pulling off such futuristic synthetic biology solutions for a wide range of societal problems is the purpose of a technical roadmap recently published by the Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC).

October 2, 2019

Kerry Kaylegian, associate research professor in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been named the recipient of the 2019 Arthur W. Nesbitt Faculty Program Development Award.

October 2, 2019

A new strategic partnership between Penn State and the University of Freiburg in Germany will propel the development of a new class of engineered living materials with potential applications in sustainable infrastructure, robotics technologies, and next-generation medical care. This will enable the institutions to compete globally on ambitious and innovative work that neither institution could accomplish alone.

October 2, 2019

Sulav Paudel, a doctoral candidate in entomology and in international agriculture and development in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, traveled to Washington, D.C., in June to participate in two conferences aimed at advancing international agriculture and rural development.