Latest News

April 24, 2025

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently appointed Christina Grozinger, Publius Vergilius Maro Professor of Entomology and director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State, to an 18-member study committee to examine the status of insects in North America. 

April 22, 2025

The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology selected six projects to receive funding from the college’s seed grant program, which provides funding to support research activities and generate preliminary results that will eventually lead to bigger projects involving external funding. 

April 22, 2025

Seeing the “huge juxtaposition” between streams flowing near her childhood home in Lancaster County impaired by pollution from intensive agriculture and the seemingly pristine creeks tumbling down the forested mountains around her family’s cabin in Mifflin County led Bridget Reheard to study how contaminants in waters affect aquatic organisms and aspirations for a career working to protect natural resources.

April 15, 2025

Increased soil salinity can reduce damage from prominent tomato pests such as the tomato fruitworm, according to researchers at Penn State.

April 14, 2025

The Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State has received $1.4 million from the  U.S. Air Force for a major initiative to expand access for airmen and their families to evidence-informed parenting programs to strengthen military family resilience and well-being.

April 9, 2025

Insecticides can help protect crops against troublesome pests, but they also pose a risk for beneficial insects such as pollinators. A new study led by researchers at Penn State provided insight into how even sublethal doses of insecticides can negatively affect pollinators by disrupting the mating process.

April 8, 2025

Despite U.S. per capita-milk consumption falling significantly in recent decades, according to the U.S. Department of Agricultural, Americans are consuming a record amount of dairy in butter and cheese — products made from milk fat. In a new study, a team led by researchers at Penn State demonstrated that supplementing dairy cattle feed with 15% whole cottonseed, a byproduct of processing cotton for fiber, can increase milk fat concentration and yield.

April 4, 2025

Thirty-one graduate students received awards at the 2025 Graduate Exhibition, a professional development event designed to help graduate students hone their skills with communicating research and creative scholarship to a general audience. 

April 4, 2025

Forty-two graduate students received Penn State's annual recognition awards that celebrate students' impact in research, scholarship, teaching, outreach, mentoring and more.

April 3, 2025

The scent of blooming flowers and fresh plant life is not just a perk of springtime; it is a key driver in the survival and evolution of butterflies and moths. New research led by scientists at Penn State reveals how the daily cycles of plant aromas are linked to the dietary habits and evolution of the winged insects collectively known as Lepidoptera.

April 1, 2025

On the latest episode of “Growing Impact,” a team of Penn State researchers discusses how their seed grant project aims to address nitrous oxide emissions from the agricultural sector.

April 1, 2025

While rural areas are more dependent on manufacturing than their urban peers, they are less likely to participate in global markets. Researchers at Penn State have identified several factors that explain why, with differences in innovation capacity —  the share of workers in occupations associated with greater patent production and the extent to which a location fosters inter-industry idea exchange — playing the most significant role.

March 27, 2025

Four Penn State faculty members have been elected to the most recent cohort of fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

March 26, 2025

Penn State is one of nine Big Ten schools providing an academic lifeline to scholars in war-torn Ukraine. The University is sponsoring seven Ukrainian academics as part of the 2025 IU-Ukraine Nonresidential Scholars Program.

March 24, 2025

Military-connected children often change schools multiple times, each time facing different academic requirements and support systems, which can significantly impact academic progress and social adjustment. Specific support initiatives can help alleviate the challenges that arise from such disruption. Still, barriers such as inconsistent implementation and lack of awareness are present, according to researchers in the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State.

March 19, 2025

The Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State (Clearinghouse), in collaboration with the Survey Research Center (SRC) at Penn State, has announced an expanded partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP). With support from WWP, the Clearinghouse and SRC will conduct the fourth wave of their Warrior Survey to further efforts to identify and highlight emerging trends among WWP warriors over time and understand the impact of different factors on quality of life.

March 18, 2025

Increased antibiotic use can lead, seemingly paradoxically, to more problematic infections, as the bacteria evolve to resist the treatment. The answer to this antimicrobial resistance, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called “one of the world’s most urgent public health problems,” might be a medication used for kidney disease, according to a team led by researchers at Penn State.

March 17, 2025

The Penn State One Health Microbiome Center, a part of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and Cynthia White, adjunct research associate in the Arts and Design Research Incubator, College of Arts and Architecture, invite all campus and community members to participate in three events featuring internationally recognized BioArtist Mellissa Monsoon. These events, which will take place on April 4 and 5, include two unique workshops and a seminar that will explore the intersections of art, science and the human body. 

March 17, 2025

Insect predators found in the U.S. could help keep spotted lanternfly populations in check while potentially reducing reliance on chemical control methods, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Penn State.

March 14, 2025

Erika Ganda, an assistant professor in Penn State’s Department of Animal Science, will shed light on the essential role microbes play in maintaining healthy ecosystems and ensuring food safety in the next Virtual Speaker Series from the Penn State Alumni Association on March 25.

March 13, 2025

Brook trout may have a genetic trick up their scales when it comes to adapting, with limitations, to heatwaves that threaten their existence. A novel study led by researchers at Penn State suggests that brook trout — an iconic coldwater fish species native to streams and lakes in the eastern United States and Canada — are capable of mounting a protective genetic response to thermal stress that can be passed on from one generation to the next.

March 10, 2025

A new method of examining gene expression patterns called landscape transcriptomics may help pinpoint what causes bumble bees stress and could eventually give insight into why bee populations are declining overall, according to a study led by researchers at Penn State.

March 3, 2025

A synthetic microbiome therapy, tested in mice, holds promise as a new treatment for C. difficile, a notoriously difficult-to-treat bacterial infection, according to a team of researchers at Penn State. The targeted treatment was as effective as human fecal transplants in mice against C. difficile infection with fewer safety concerns, protecting against severe symptoms and decreasing recurrent infections.

March 3, 2025

Environmental contaminants don’t just pose direct risks to human health — they may also have hidden effects through the microbiome that researchers are working to uncover. The latest episode of Growing Impact discusses how environmental contaminants affect human health, a research focus for Penn State professors Andrew Patterson and Costas Maranas.

February 27, 2025

Auja Bywater, a doctoral student in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been awarded second prize in the Global Challenges University Alliance 2030 research competition.

February 27, 2025

Soilless growing systems inside greenhouses, known as controlled environment agriculture, promise to advance the year-round production of high-quality specialty crops, according to an interdisciplinary research team at Penn State. But to be competitive and sustainable, this advanced farming method will require the development and implementation of precision agriculture techniques. To meet that demand, the team developed an automated crop-monitoring system capable of providing continuous and frequent data about plant growth and needs, allowing for informed crop management.

February 25, 2025

The effects of pesticide exposure on pollinator health may be more complicated than originally thought, according to a team of researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.